KAREN:  Now, the Senate will be holding its probe on the drug-related killings. You have Senator Leila De Lima who will be chairing this particular probe.  The first thing I want to ask you, what message is President Duterte saying to his opponents and his critics with what the public has seen on how far he would go with a sitting senator, a woman—some people honestly saying, shaming her in such a public and frankly just, I mean, out rightly confrontal manner?

SEC. ANDANAR:  No one is excused, Karen. If the President sees … if there is evidence that links you or your alleged ex-lover to drug syndicates, then nobody is excused. Even the generals, even the high-level drug lords have been mentioned – the five generals and other LGU chief executives.

KAREN:  Mayors.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Mayors, yeah. So wala talagang excuse dito sa programa ng Pangulo. In fact, doon po sa naging isyu kay Senator Leila De Lima, there were two stories there.

KAREN:  Okay, go ahead.

SEC. ANDANAR:  The alleged love affair and also the connection of that alleged lover to the drug lords inside the New Bilibid Prisons. And the President was merely stating the fact and laying down the legal basis of his argument by saying that hindi naman kaya ng isang driver na pumunta sa Bilibid Prison at sabihan sila na ito ang gawin ninyo at bigyan  ako ng pera kung walang koneksyon sa mas makapangyarihang tao.

KAREN:  Because what happened is, last week, many women felt the President started off with she’s an adulterer, an immoral woman. And, you know, women in this country can never say that to a man that has affairs or a man that has another, let say, a mistress. You know, we never start that off with the sitting President or a sitting public official. But it was more of like it was an anti-feministic that, you know, he started off with here’s a  woman who is immoral and adulterer, has an affair,  and then the drugs came after.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Because, I think, the media also failed to explain that kung anuman iyong mga naging relasyon ng ating Presidente, the President is a single man; at kung sinuman siguro ang karelasyon ng Presidente, single din. At sinabi ng Pangulo that this Ronnie is married. So therefore, it’s illegal. It’s a criminal act. So, I’m laying the basis of the argument and connecting Ronnie to drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison.

KAREN:  Now, Secretary, I want you to tell me the truth: Is it true that Ronnie, the driver and alleged lover, is already witnessing against Secretary De Lima? In other words, it seems that – a talk all over town – he’ll be speaking and telling the truth. As he admitted anything to President Duterte?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Iyon po ang sinabi ng Pangulo. He said that during the interview na puwedeng maging witness itong si Ronnie. But, I will find out from the President, from him, at the Cabinet meeting later.

KAREN:  Okay, you did a documentary of the first 50 days of President Duterte.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yes,  ma’am.

KAREN:  And clearly, this has been the most colorful, unorthodox 50 days we’ve had from a sitting President. Describe his first 50 days.

SEC. ANDANAR:  The first 50 days, iyong pinaka-naging accomplishment po talaga ng ating Pangulo is the 600,000 who have presented themselves, who have surrendered themselves –  the addicts, the drug dependents and those drug pushers. Out of the 600,000, there are about 30,000 drug pushers who have presented themselves to the policemen because they want to renew their lives. They want to go through drug rehabilitations.

The second one is the Freedom of Information Executive Order. And by the way, we are already submitting the manual, the Executive Order Manual to the different agencies for them—kasi it’s a template. And then, you also have the successes of Ma’am Gina Lopez, the irresponsible miners that she has shut down.

KAREN:  Secretary, if you excuse our interview for just a minute. Vice President Leni Robredo is attending a flag ceremony at Camp Crame, and let’s go there now and listen to it.

[VP ROBREDO’S SPEECH]

KAREN: All right, you are hearing the speech, that’s live, of Vice President Leni Robredo at the flag raising ceremony at Camp Crame this morning where she talked about the direct line that policemen now have to the high officials of the PNP and President Duterte, the increase in the salaries that President Duterte is prioritizing for policemen. Secretary Martin Andanar, would you consider this as one of the top achievements in the first 50 days?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Of course. The police force has been very, very, very, very ano … they have been working so hard, high morale sila sa mga ginagawa nila. Never in history that the police force has been given so much confidence by a President. In fact, this war against drugs, the task of solving drugs is right now seeing the light of day by all of these policemen who were dedicated to stopping the drugs.

KAREN:  I’d like to connect this to the issue  we have right now with the United Nations. Didn’t President Duterte, in a way, give policemen a license to kill? Usually, you know when there is an operations as much as possible, you want to bring the suspect back  alive. I mean, you’ve seen it in the US, it’s the same thing. But here, it seems that the President have repeatedly told policemen, ‘You know what, if they put up a fight, kill them, kill them.’ And the UN has raised alarm bells by saying, by giving out that signal. You know, it brings out a whole other  message to police officers.

SEC. ANDANAR: The point here is, when you are engaged … if you are a policeman and you’re engaged on an operation, and your life is at stake, then you have to save your life. The basic principle: Save your life. You are a police officer and you are in an authorized police operation, that’s what the President is saying. It’s as simple as that.

Now, the problem before – the President already mentioned this, too – the  policemen during the past administrations, wala silang depensa mula sa gobyerno. They are not even given lawyers. Kapag mayroon silang mga napatay halimbawa na kriminal, sila pa ang may kasalanan. And when there’s a case filed against policemen, wala silang suweldo. So, this is the first time that the police force is experiencing this so much support from the President, and it is working already – sumi-surrender na iyong mga drug pusher, iyong mga drug addict. Thirty thousand drug pushers have presented themselves to the  Chief PNP.

KAREN:  Thirty thousand drug pushers?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yeah. Out of the 630,000 who have presented themselves, drug dependents, 30,000 of this 630,000 are drug pushers.

KAREN:  Now, with the United Nations. I mean, making these comments, I mean, being alarmed at the number of deaths in the Philippine, I want to ask you first: Can the Philippines actually really withdraw from the UN? I mean, when you read the Charter, the minute a country signs, it is a permanent membership; to withdraw will be completely unprecedented.   

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yeah, you cannot withdraw under the United Nations Charter.

KAREN:  You cannot.

SEC. ANDANAR:  The first one who tried is Indonesia. There was also Syria who tried. And then recently, Congressman Ron Paul of the United States submitted the bill in the United States for withdrawal, pero hindi rin na-approve.

KAREN:  Okay. So technically, the truth, Secretary, is you can’t withdraw.

SEC. ANDANAR:  But you can withdraw support.

KAREN:  But there is one question. When President Duterte says these things, I want to ask you, does he think about them, is research given to him?

SEC. ANDANAR:  The point is, the President was appalled by the comment of the UN Rapporteur and, in a sense, taking that cudgels of the rights of these criminals who are disproportionately…. You know, if you compare it to the number of  victims of drugs in this country – 3.7 million – and then you have about 600 drug pushers killed in action, in a police operation, and  then you try to take the cudgels of  the  rights—how about the rights of these people who were victimized by drugs, and their families? Ba’t ayaw gawin ni UN Rapporteur, depensahin niya rin ang karapatan ng gobyerno, ang ginagawa ng gobyerno na programa against all of  these criminals who have been victimizing our citizens.

KAREN:  So, Secretary, do you believe—

SEC. ANDANAR:  It’s a utilitarian, you know, there are two ways.

KAREN:  You believe these deaths are necessary? 

SEC. ANDANAR:  Well, if they fight … they’ve been warned already. If you don’t surrender, if you fight the policemen, then you will be engaged.

KAREN:  But is the President … I don’t think the President is naïve enough to think that all these deaths are police related in a legal way.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Well, 1,000 iyong patay according to ABS-CBN. Six hundred of these deaths are legitimate police operations; and the rest, we don’t know – extra judicial killing, mga salvage, etc. So what the President is just saying that,  the President who is raised in a Roman Catholic family, a Roman Catholic high school, a Roman Catholic in college, and he was raised to protect  the rights of the good over the evil.

KAREN:  So, the 400 plus deaths that are not police operations, my questions is: Do you believe that President, in anyway, has also encouraged extrajudicial killings by his statements publicly? Do you think he has encouraged either criminal syndicates, either the mafia or even police officers who have gone rogue to do this on their own?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Of course not, of course not.

KAREN:  You don’t believe he has no part in encouraging?

SEC. ANDANAR:  No, he does not have any part in encouraging extrajudicial killings. In  fact, he has ordered Chief PNP General Del Rosa to go after these extrajudicial killings.  In fact, the President is also signing the administrative order on task force against media killings.Now, we can take this from the argument that maybe sinasabayan tayo ng mga drug lords, sinasabayan iyong police operations para kunwari ano, but they are cleansing their own ranks ‘cause that’s a possibility. What is important here is that our gains in government,  the gains of the policemen against illegal drugs is just  moving forward and we have the momentum already. At kapag nakikialam po  iyong UN Rapporteur and taking the cudgels of the rights of these criminals over the cudgels of the disproportionately  majority of the Filipinos who are  affected by drugs, 3.7 million plus the families, then if you are the President, you will be dismayed.

KAREN:  If the President seriously withdraws its support from the UN, what does that mean? I’m curious. What would it entail? Is it a declaration of some sort? What happens, Secretary?

SEC. ANDANAR:  We will have to talk to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Jun Yasay, who will  be having his press conference in a couple of hours.

KAREN:  Oo, and it’s about this?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yeah, it’s about this, yeah.

KAREN:  Okay. Is he going to announce the withdrawal?

SEC. ANDANAR:  No, he will clarify some issues in the DFA.

 KAREN:  Okay. Now, Jerry Lirio is watching right now and asking: When will President Duterte release the evidence against Senator De Lima  that he’s saying he has?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Okay. Nakapila po ito, Sir Jerry. Nakapila lahat. I mean, right today, as we speak, I will be meeting the DILG Secretary in Malacañang because he will be announcing already the cases that will be filed against the generals that the President mentioned before. Kasi he mentioned five generals. So mayroon pong mga heneral doon na kakasuhan na because there’s already prima facie evidence that they are connected to  illegal drugs.

KAREN:  Which ones, would you know?

SEC. ANDANAR:  I am not going to preempt the announcement of the DILG Secretary.

KAREN:  Okay, okay. But not all five?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Not all five. The three will be—the case will be filed after Napolcom. And iyong dalawa will be in a regular court kasi iyong dalawa ay retired na.

KAREN:  Okay, all right.

SEC. ANDANAR:  And then you have all of these LGU chief executives. Sunud-sunod na iyan.

KAREN:  Okay, next, next. Wait,  why is Mayor Espinosa back in office?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Mayor Espinosa—

KAREN:  After admitting he knows his son is a drug trafficker.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yeah, because you know why, Karen, sa judiciary, wala siyang warrant of arrest.

KAREN:  Why doesn’t the government file against him? The DOJ?

SEC. ANDANAR:  We should ask the judiciary kung bakit wala siyang warrant of arrest. But now, after one week—

KAREN:  Is it DOJ’s job?

SEC. ANDANAR:  After one week, after one week na nauna … umuwi siya, ‘di ba? And then, the policemen raided his house.

KAREN:  With drugs inside.

SEC. ANDANAR:  With drugs and million. Now, there is evidence now, the PNP will file a case now against him and there should be a warrant of arrest. This is what you call a due process. We’re following due process now.

KAREN:  But then, this is also what many critics say, ‘pag mahirap na drug pusher, patay; ‘pag mayaman na drug protector, ka-meeting daw ng Pangulo.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Hindi naman nanlaban si Espinosa.

KAREN:  That’s my point. I mean, why  was he allowed even to go back. I mean, you know ….

SEC. ANDANAR:  We have to also consider that—

KAREN:  Shouldn’t he be arrested  and  be detained?

SEC. ANDANAR:  We should also consider that Mayor Espinosa is not an ordinary guy. He is a mayor and he is an alleged drug lord. So if you are a drug lord, then you verily have all of the information he knew and there is an assumption that  you can pinpoint kung sino pa iyong nasa taas, hindi ba? So you have to be able to cull, get information out of these people, Intelligence, para mas mahuli mo pa iyong nasa taas. Then, when Espinosa surrendered, he presented himself, hindi naman siya nanlaban, so buhay siya. Now that there’s evidence against him, he will also be charged.

KAREN:  Because people were asking, he even stayed at the White House with General Dela Rosa.

SEC. ANDANAR:  He presented himself to General Dela  Rosa. And in fairness po naman kay General Bato during the Cabinet meeting, he said this, na sinabi sa aming lahat kung ano ang gagawin niya.

KAREN:  Pero, Secretary, can you promise the public today that someone  like Mayor Espinosa, wherein  his own house  was raided with illegal drugs, firearms, he went on a presscon and denied any involvement. Sabi niya anak lang niya.  I mean, will you assure the public that he himself will be arrested?

SEC. ANDANAR:  The Courts will have to give us or give the policemen the warrant of arrest.

KAREN:  But are they pursuing it?

SEC. ANDANAR:  The PNP is pursuing it. It’s already with the court. It’s in their ball right now—the ball is in their court right now.  

KAREN:  All right. Now, another question: The hearing today with Senator Leila De Lima on the drug-related killings, what are you expecting to come out of this? Senator Leila De Lima says, I have to separate the issues against me and the issues against the drug-related killings. First, I want to ask you: Will there be a case file against Senator Leila De Lima? How far is the President going with this?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Well, we have to wait. Like what I said earlier, nakapila itong lahat, the evidences against the driver or the former driver of Senator De Lima. The evidences will be validated, revalidated at tinatrabaho na po iyan. And once kumpleto na po lahat, and cases will be filed – just like the generals, just like the mayors.

Now, doon po naman sa mangyayaring imbestigasyon mamaya sa Senado, again, it is very clear that the President said to General Bato Dela Rosa that he presents himself and you allow yourself to be investigated, and you present empirical evidence that the extrajudicial killings is not our policy. 

KAREN:  Okay. So General Bato will be attending the hearing?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yes, oo.

KAREN:  In other words, hindi ito covered by—you know, in the past administrations, they wouldn’t let public officials go for, I mean, under a certain EO. This one, your President Duterte telling them to actually show up in the hearings.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yes, yes, and  to show  up in the hearings. Our President is very transparent. In fact, he has already asked these officials in government, 6,000 appointive posts, to vacate their posts kasi sobrang corrupt na ho iyong gobyerno natin.

KAREN:  Yeah, you need to clarify that. First, before we go to that, I’m going to ask you: How do you address the fear  that President Duterte is silencing  his critics?

SEC. ANDANAR:  No, he is not silencing his critics. There are also other congressmen and senators who have been vocal against the President. And it’s just so happened that Senator De Lima and the former driver and alleged lover, you know, have alleged connections with illegal drugs in the Bilibid Prison. That is what inside the paper submitted to the President by the Intelligence officer. So it’s a war against drugs and nobody is excused.

So linawin natin that if there is a connection, that kailangan damihan pa iyong  ebidensiya, ‘pag nakita ang ebidensiya, that’s why the driver of Senator De Lima is encouraged to present himself to the Philippine National Police and prove that   he is innocent.

KAREN:  All right. We’re going to take a quick break. When we return, Secretary Martin Andanar will be explaining exactly what the President meant when he said, ‘All of you, like these 6,000 posts in government, consider them vacated.’ What exactly does that mean? Are they technically fired or is the post open? And which post does exactly President Duterte mean by ‘consider your posts vacated’? That’s next. Headstart will be right back.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

KAREN:  All right. We have with us, Secretary Martin Andanar, the Communications Secretary. President Duterte said, consider your post vacant. He plans to declare all positions filled by presidential appointees vacant due to the continued prevalence of corruption in government. I mean, here again, here is the President saying something as drastic as this. Did you expect corruption to go in 50 days? I mean, Secretary, what does he mean?

SEC. ANDANAR:  The President keeps on repeating to us in the Cabinet that the only ones that are new are the appointed ones – the Cabinet, usecs, asecs, you know. But the entire bureaucracy is still the same, run by CESO employees – these are the one who passed the Civil Service. Now when he said that, I clarify this with the Executive Secretary—

KAREN:  But, he said career officials are not involved.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Not involved. Those that … they cannot be fired. They cannot vacate because mayroon nga silang sarili  nilang … well, they are regular employees.

KAREN:  Unless you file a case. 

SEC. ANDANAR:  Unless you file a case before the Ombudsman and etc., then the ball rolls.

KAREN:  So whom does he mean?

SEC. ANDANAR:   These are the 6,000 appointees or less of the past administration. Now, hindi kasama iyong mga bago. Kasi mayroon po kasing mga … you know, the vetting process, the  screening process this administration doon sa mga post na ipi-fill in ng ating Pangulo is very strict stringent. Up to this day, tuluy-tuloy pa rin iyong vetting process. So a lot of those who are now heading these regulatory agencies or other agencies that outside of that are still form the past administration.

KAREN:  So when I asked you … because technically the President criticized LTO and LTFRB in that speech, when he says, consider your post vacant with the LTO, does he mean even the  head of LTO that he appointed?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Iyong LTO at saka LTFRB—

KAREN:  These are agencies—

SEC. ANDANAR:  These are special cases because the President has been receiving all of these reports of, you know, the vicious cycle of corruption especially in the provinces and the regions. So that is why the President called on the two agencies to report to him at the Palace para sabihin kung ano ba ang nangyayari sa inyo, bakit … And then, now,  there is no silver bullet to solving corruption. And this is a message also not only to the appointed people, the appointed leaders of the President, but also to those who were already in the bureaucracy. The President is willing and he serious about his drive against corruption.

KAREN:  But then, I mean, I myself was surprised when you renew a license today with the LTO, it’s 18 minutes. I mean that’s very fast.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Very fast.

KAREN:  So I mean, you are telling me the President is not satisfied with changes like these?

SEC. ANDANAR:  But there are so many irregularities happening apart from that. You know, the licenses, the franchise of taxis, of buses, corruption in the provinces. Marami pong ganiyang report, Karen. So, you know, the President just can’t take the sitting down that’s why he already announced. And the President is now starting in his anti-corruption drive, from drugs to corruption.

KAREN:  Secretary, when President Duterte said consider your post vacant, kasi maraming nanunood sa atin ngayong taga-probinsya, is he still can go to work?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Those who were appointed by the past administration … you know, there is thing called, “courtesy resignation”. There are some did not file their courtesy resignation. They just stay on their post, I don’t know why. Very clear naman, you work at the pleasure of the President. Now, if there is a new administration, now you should file your courtesy resignation. If you don’t file your courtesy resignation, then you know, I don’t know why you are doing that.

KAREN:  So many didn’t file?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Marami po ang hindi nag-file. Now, the President is saying that even if all of these appointed posts are vacated, the bureaucracy will still run because our bureaucracy … we have complete eh – the deputy , we have the most senior. You know, it can stand on its own even without us.

KAREN:  Yeah, that’s what he was saying, so the Career officials get promoted temporarily?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yes, yes, oo.

KAREN:  So are you going to see dramatic changes here? Will the President be firing, re-appointing in the next few days?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yes, yes. It’s going to be very dramatic. And the campaign against corruption will even be put to higher gear in the next few days, the next few weeks.

KAREN:  All right.  Now, Secretary, the first 50 days is already over, what is the goal or the vision of the President? Let’s move it na huwag nang 50 days; the end of the year, 2016. So that’s a few months.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Well, the promise of the President is that three to six months, naibalik na po ang ating mga kalsada, ang ating mga kalye sa mga kabataan. Iyon ang pangako ng Presidente at iyon ang gagawin ni General Bato Dela Rosa. Ipinangako po ng Pangulo natin—

KAREN:  Well, people were saying, it couldn’t be done. It looks like nobody saw coming.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Now, it’s happening. We’re seeing the light of day already, the light at the end of the tunnel that it could be done in Metro Manila. Mayroon din pong proyekto ang ating Pangulo, ang Department of Transportation, dito po sa traffic sa atin sa Metro Manila. So he is asking for emergency powers para ma-solve ito nang mabilis. So, let’s expect also  improvement in the traffic. At let’s also expect some improvement in DPWH in how they construct and how they finish all of these projects that have been left behind.

KAREN:  All right, yeah.  We have last three minutes. But I wanted to ask you: How influential would former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be and the former First Gentleman to President Duterte? I mean, I want to ask you directly, there are talks, I mean, that—well, they helped fund the President’s campaign. And talks are—I mean, you  have the President isolating Bobby Ongpin compared to  many other businessmen that, you know, I mean naming Bobby Ongpin singularly as an oligarch or this or that. And then, Senator Leila De Lima. And some have said, the only thing they have in common is, at one point, they have crossed former President Arroyo or the first Gentleman.  Would you say that they influenced the President?

SEC. ANDANAR:  No, not really. You know, Karen, during the National Security Meeting, the council meeting, all the four past presidents were there. The fact that they were there, they already influential to the President. Once you are in that Cabinet table, the Cabinet room, the Cabinet meeting, you can say your piece. And for example, President Noynoy Aquino did say his piece about national security, and it was well taken by the President. So we have a President who’s looking forward already. He doesn’t look back and say, itong tao na ito ganiyan-ganiyan. No, no, no. It’s not the thing for honorable men. So  all of the past presidents are influential to our current president.

KAREN:  Now, you know there was a 6.9 growth, an average of 6.5 during the time of President Aquino. Do businessmen have anything to fear with President Duterte? I mean, here’s President Duterte, closing online gambling, e-bingo will be closed soon, I believe, and there are mining companies that are suspended. I mean, it shows his political will clearly on things that matter to him. But do businessmen have anything to fear   with President Duterte?

SEC. ANDANAR:  The recent poll by the Philippine Star says that the businessmen are happy and they are contented with the first 50 days of the President. You know, you see, when the rule of law is back and the rule of law is working for a country, then there’s got to be more reason for businessman to be confident in the governance, in government and how everything is being run.

So,  I guess,  with the pronouncement of the President during the inaugural, that past contracts will be respected, will be followed  by the current administration. But that along gives a lot of confidence to the businessmen. There’s no need to worry. In fact, they should be happy right now that the rule of law is back.

KAREN:  All right, last words. I know, you are off to the DILG today. So what’s your schedule going to be like?

SEC. ANDANAR:  My schedule today, Karen, will be like going— first, I’m going to be at the Malacañang Press briefing room with the DILG. And by the way, I’d like to remind everyone also, the media, that Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon of the Bureau of Customs will be there also.

KAREN:  In Malacañang?

SEC. ANDANAR:  In Malacañang because mayroon  siyang malaking pasabog.

KAREN:  Really, today?

SEC. ANDANAR:  Today ‘no. So ano iyan, hitting two birds with one stone at the Malacañang Press Briefing Room with DILG Secretary  Mike Sueño  na mayroon ding  pasabog,  at si Customs Commissioner Nick Faeldon. And after that,  there’s a Cabinet meeting today. So usually Cabinet meetings are scheduled every first Monday of the month, but for some reason, there is a Cabinet meeting today. So the President must be—

KAREN:  Yeah, what time is the Cabinet meeting?

SEC. ANDANAR:  That’s about 2 to 3 p.m.

 KAREN:  Yeah. And I am just curious, it seems that the President goes …he’s up early. I mean, he has meetings at 11 in the morning.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yeah.

KAREN:  He’s up early now.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Well, he actually always up early. He spends about three to four hours reading the papers, books.

KAREN:  Okay, all right. Really, so that his schedule. So today is an exposé by Customs Commissioner Faeldon and DILG Secretary Sueño.

SEC. ANDANAR:  Yes.

KAREN:  I see, all right. Now, before we go, I want to greet you a very happy birthday, Martin Andanar. You are now how old?

SEC. ANDANAR:  I’m 42 years old.

KAREN: Forty-two. So you celebrated your birthday yesterday.

SEC. ANDANAR: Yesterday, with the family. It was a quiet one.

KAREN:  So any regrets joining government?

SEC. ANDANAR:  It’s for the country.

KAREN:  So but do you like it?

SEC. ANDANAR:  You know, it’s good to be serving the country. It’s good to be paying it forward. And whatever I learned from our industry in broadcast, I am applying it in our office. You know, it’s different when you work for a private company because you really have to be up and about, and that is the culture I’m trying to bring inside the PCO.

KAREN:  And before we go, have you solved already who heads Channel 4?

SEC. ANDANAR:  We already have a general manager. The General Manager is Dino Apolonio. Dino Apolonio was an executive at ABC in America,   CBS and CNN in America. And I also worked with him at TV5 for quite some time. He was a former broadcast engineer executive. 

KAREN:  So were you able to appoint, I mean, I think, nine agencies under you?

SEC. ANDANAR:  I already have the names who will head those agencies. And, of course, for the GOCCs ay kailangan pang i-approve the GCG iyong kanilang mga appointments. But for the government posts,  kumpleto na po.

KAREN:  All right. On that note, Secretary Martin Andanar, thank you for coming to the show.

SEC. ANDANAR: Thank you, Karen. Mabuhay ka.

##

SOURCE:  NIB (News and Information Bureau)