Erwin Tulfo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Communications Secretary Matin Andanar on Friday said broadcast journalist Erwin Tulfo is “qualified” to be President Rodrigo Duterte’s “next press secretary.”
“I see the capacity of Erwin to run an office like the PCOO. I think he’s qualified to be the next press secretary if you ask me,” Andanar told reporters in Malacañang after the inauguration of the new Radio-Television Malacañang logo at the Palace.
In October 2018, here have been talks the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) would be abolished to revive the Office of the Press Secretary.
READ: Andanar: Shift from PCOO to OPS between now and Oct. 17
Andanar extolled Tulfo’s decades of experience in media.
“He’s been in the media for ages, he started in the print and then went to radio and then TV, he became an anchor, and it seems that wherever he goes, from ABS CBN to TV5 and now to government, he has the trust of millions of Filipinos and basically he has a huge following and by that alone, talagang mabigat na ‘yung kanyang credibility (his credentials are really remarkable),” he said.
But what will happen to Andanar if Tulfo becomes the next press secretary?
Andanar said the President has not offered him a new post.
In October 2018, Duterte said he wanted chief presidential legal counsel and presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo to be his press secretary, and Andanar his “consultant.”
Speculations have surfaced that Andanar would replace Francis Tolentino as presidential adviser on political affairs. Tolentino won the Senate race in the May 13 midterm elections.
“The President has not talked to me about moving to another department or any agency. We all work at the pleasure of the President,” Andanar said.
During the campaign period, Duterte justified Anadanar’s presence in PDP-Laban’s campaign sorties, saying “he’s an ideologue.”
“Andanar, he’s an ideologue. His guidance is very important to all of the PDP members. He’s a son of one of the founding fathers of PDP-Laban, and there are only few of them left, original,” Duterte said. (Editor: Katherine G. Adraneda)