COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST | President Ferdinand Marcos administers the oath of office to film and television director Paul Soriano as presidential adviser for creative communications in Malacañang on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Soriano, one of the key people behind the successful election campaign of the President, is joined by his wife, actress and celebrity endorser Toni Gonzaga, and their son, Severiano Elliott or Seve. (Photo from Malacañang)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed on Monday his wedding godson, film and television director Paul Soriano, as presidential adviser on creative communications.
Officer in charge Cheloy Garafil of the Office of the Press Secretary announced Soriano’s appointment.
“Confirmed. [Soriano] will take his oath later,” Garafil told reporters in a text message early Monday.
A photo showing Marcos administering Soriano’s oath of office was posted on the president’s social media accounts after the closed-door ceremony in Malacañang. The movie director was accompanied by his celebrity wife Toni Gonzaga and their six-year-old son, Severiano Elliott.
Malacañang said Soriano agreed to receive only P1 as his annual salary for his position.
Among Soriano’s responsibilities, it noted, was to “advise the chief executive and assist departments and agencies, including government-owned and -controlled corporations, on matters that will enhance their information dissemination programs and initiatives.”
“One of the greatest assets of the Filipino is our creativity, and we must find many ways to highlight that to the rest of the world,” the president said in a statement.
“And that is what Paul Soriano has already been doing in his career as a filmmaker. And now we have asked him to help us at one peso per year,” he added.
Soriano expressed his gratitude to his godfather, saying it was “an absolute honor to be able to serve” in his administration.
“It’s a passion of mine to just create and communicate. It’s an absolute honor that the president has trusted me with this position,” the 41-year-old filmmaker said.
“[I]n this day and age, you need to do it creatively, and you need to communicate so that the mission and the vision and the message of the president [are] clearly communicated to the Filipino people,” he said.
Meanwhile, Marcos also swore in his former election lawyer, George Garcia, as chair of the Commission on Elections.
Blood ties
Garcia, who served as the president’s counsel in his failed electoral protest against former Vice President Leni Robredo, took his oath along with two other new Comelec commissioners, Nelson Celis and Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr.
Soriano and his wife supported Marcos’ 2022 electoral campaign. He directed Marcos’ presidential campaign commercials for the May elections as well as his first State of the Nation Address in July, where Marcos announced, among others, that “rightsizing” of the bureaucracy was a priority of his administration to ensure “optimal and efficient use of resources.”
CAMPAIGN PARTNER | A photo posted on President Marcos’ Twitter account, shows filmmaker Paul Soriano joining then-vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte and then-presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for a photograph during a break in one of the UniTeam’s campaign sorties.
He is also a distant nephew of the president’s wife. Soriano’s father and the first lady are first cousins, while his paternal grandmother and Liza Araneta-Marcos’ mother are sisters.
Soriano’s wife, a movie and television actress and celebrity endorser, is a staunch supporter of the president, hosting a number of events during the Marcos campaign. Gonzaga also sang the national anthem during the president’s June 30 inauguration.
The President and the first lady are the Soriano couple’s godparents at their wedding in June 2015.
Soriano was earlier reported as among those considered for the position of press secretary vacated by lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles but later said in an Oct. 5 interview with ABS-CBN that he declined the offer because he believed there were others more qualified for the role.
Long relationship
Soriano started as a concert and music video director before he earned his break as a TV commercial director. He then moved to directing short films, independent films, and full-length movies.
Soriano is the grandson of actor Nestor de Villa while his father, Jeric, was also a TV commercial director.
Soriano, through his father, had been part of the production of President Marcos’ TV and online campaign ads from as early as when he ran as governor of Ilocos Norte.
Later, Soriano took charge of Marcos’ campaign ads for national positions such as his senatorial run, his bid for the vice presidency in the 2016 elections, and when he vied for the presidency this year.
—WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
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