New press secretary to streamline OPS

Newly installed Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye vowed yesterday to "streamline" the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) as head of the government’s lead information agency.

Bunye, 57, a former mayor and congressman of Muntinlupa City, officially took over from Silvestre Afable who until yesterday was press secretary in an acting capacity.

Bunye said he will also concurrently serve as presidential spokesman until erstwhile press secretary Rigoberto Tiglao returns home in October from a study grant in Japan.

After being briefed on his new job and how the 3,000-member OPS works, Bunye said his planned streamlining will take place once a "management audit" ordered by Afable is completed.

"And the results of the study would be available maybe in three months time and that would assist me in assessing the capabilities of the organization and try to make the organization, the whole OPS family, more efficient and more effective in communicating the goals and policies of the government to our people," Bunye stressed.

As press secretary, Bunye will have under his supervision various OPS-attached agencies such as the Philippine Information Agency, as well as control of government-run radio and television stations such as PTV 4, RPN 9 and IBC 13.

While Bunye got his new job, his daughter Patricia bowed out yesterday as First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo’s spokesperson.

Mr. Arroyo told The STAR that he would like to spare the young Bunye from possible "intrigues" at Malacañang that might arise with her father’s new job.

"Since her father was appointed as the press secretary and spokesman for the President, it would be better this way," the First Gentleman said. "I don’t pay her any salary. She has served me gratis et amore."

He said he will ask another long-time friend, Isabel de Leon, assistant secretary at the Office of the Presidential Spokesman, to serve as his spokesperson pro bono.

The elder Bunye said he and Mr. Arroyo were buddies since college when both were studying law at Ateneo de Manila in Quezon City and were also both in the school’s swimming team.

Bunye expressed apprehension that his new job as presidential spokesman and his daughter’s job as the First Gentleman’s spokesperson might pose a problem for them.