Former ABS-CBN news exec being eyed as PTV-4 general manager

DAVAO CITY — A former news executive of broadcast giant ABS-CBN is being eyed as general manager and news director of state-run television station PTV-4.

 

“The person that I am hiring as GM (general manager) and the person I’m hiring as the news director, in fact, comes from ABS-CBN," incoming Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) Friday.

 

Andanar declined to identify the person he is considering for the job, saying the prospective appointee still has to think things over.

 

“It’s gargantuan task to run PTV News," Andanar said.

 

There are rumors that former ANC head and erstwhile CNN Philippines senior vice president for news and current affairs Jing Magsaysay is being eyed for the post. There are also speculations that TV5 news operations head DJ Sta. Ana, another former ABS-CBN news executive, is also being considered but all these information remain unverified.

 

Andanar, a former TV-5 anchor, assured the public that he would not hire people who would turn state-run media outlets into their cash cows.

 

“We'll hire the best news director who will invite the best people,” Andanar said.

 

“The best way is to hire the best, dedicated people. I will hire from the outside,” he added.

 

Andanar said he would work to make PTV-4 independent and to make it similar to the British Broadcasting Corp., a public service broadcaster (PSB).

 

The United Nations has been encouraging countries to establish a PSB, which is financed by taxpayers’ money and free from government, political and commercial pressures.

 

The Philippine government has expressed its goal to establish a PSB in the country as early as 2005. According to an article posted on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization website, a multi-sectoral group met on March 10, 2005 in Quezon City “to plan out strategies in the setting up of the PSB.”

 

The meeting was held after then Government Mass Media Group chief Cerge Remonde declared that the core of the PSB would come from state-run media entities.

 

In 2012, outgoing Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the Aquino administration also wants to transform PTV-4’s image from “a propaganda machine in the past administration to a public service station” in the mold of BBC.

 

While the current management of PTV-4 has been praised for improving the station’s programming, the vision of establishing a Philippine PSB remains unrealized.

 

Andanar said the administration may urge government agencies to advertise in PTV-4.

 

He is also supportive of the plan to privatize state-run television network IBC-13. The network used to be owned by Roberto Benedicto, a close friend of the late dictator Ferdinand Macros. The network was sequestered by the government after the 1986 People Power Revolution.

 

Andanar also revealed that he is meeting with people from social networking giant Facebook for the possible streaming of all official events, announcements and press conferences of the incoming administration.

 

In the same interview, Andanar denied that he was chosen as Communications secretary because of his ties with Sen. Cynthia Villar, a political ally of incoming president Rodrigo Duterte.

 

“Villar has got nothing to do with my appointment,” he said.

 

Andanar is married to Alelee Aguilar Andanar, daughter of Villar’s brother and Las Piñas Mayor Vergel Aguilar.