Let’s move on, says Aquino on Carandang’s resignation

Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TOKYO—“Let’s move on.”

The resignation of his communications strategist, Secretary Ricky Carandang, is not a cause for concern to President Benigno Aquino III.

“Now, what’s the effect (of the resignation) on the Communications (Group)? Then we move on. There’s still a mission that has to be done,” said the President.

“The people in Comm Group have been working with each other for three and a half years. I think there have been a lot of retirements, but like anything else, we can still further improve,” he said.

He made the remarks in a meeting with the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) at the Imperial Hotel here late Friday.

He was scheduled to return to Manila early today (Sunday).

Mr. Aquino denied presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda was also on the way out, especially after the pronouncement of deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte that she served “at the pleasure of the President.”

“I will go wherever the President asks me to go,” Valte said at a news briefing in Malacañang on Friday, responding to questions on whether she would follow Carandang’s lead.

According to the President, the new setup would see Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Lacierda and Valte having “alternate” briefings with the MPC.

“So I guess between the three of them, there’s a division of labor,” he said, stressing that what he was after was for all three to “deliver the message correctly, and whoever is the one who (will be) pointman, that’s for them to decide on.”

 
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