Piñol remark on Palace media operations ‘nothing personal’—Abella

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella. NESTOR CORRALES / INQUIRER.net

A Palace official on Tuesday said the remarks of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol calling the media operations of Malacañang  weak “should be settled behind the scenes.”

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that Piñol was only voicing his own opinion.

“From his point of view, this is a question of work and there is nothing personal about the whole thing,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the “Durtetenomics Forum” in Pasay City.

On Monday, Piñol commented on President Duterte’s win in TIME’s “most influential person” reader poll after a reporter asked if the results were manipulated by Malacañang.

But Piñol said Malacañang could not manipulate an online poll because it can’t even organize its own communications group.

“Look, personally, as a former newsman, I think Malacañang’s media operations are weak. I’m frank. They are being left out in releasing such stories, the independent media often gets to release such stories first,” he said in Filipino.

Abella responded, saying there was nothing personal about the secretary’s remarks.

“It’s just a question of work. It was a general reference and there’s nothing personal about it,” he said.

Asked if Piñol should meddle in the affairs of the Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO), Abella said the secretary was only expressing his concerns.

“It’s not a question of meddling. He’s just voicing his own opinion, he’s voicing his own concerns,” he said.

But Abella said Piñol’s concerns should have not been discussed with the media.

“These things actually should be settled behind the scenes,” he said.

The Palace official assured that it “would just continue to pursue what we already do.”

“Everything is work in progress. And so we ought to continue what we can do best,” he said. JE/rga