MANILA, Philippines — The Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) office will be closed from July 28 until Aug. 11 to give way for decontamination and sanitation after two of its personnel tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
During the closure, “only select personnel will be allowed to cover Presidential coverages, while support to non-Presidential coverages will only be done remotely or virtually.”
“Other employees identified to be primary contacts of our confirmed cases are scheduled to undergo necessary swab testing and will be on mandatory self-quarantine,” the RTVM said in a statement on Monday.
The rest of the RTVM workforce will be on a work-from-home arrangement.
Due to this, no documents shall be received and/or released in RTVM’s Manila office, and no other coverage requests and/or transactions shall be entertained during the entirety of the 14-day closure.
RTVM is the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) broadcast media arm.
It is the only media group allowed to cover President Duterte’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa on Monday. Private media agencies were advised to hook up to RTVM’s broadcast feed for their SONA coverage.