NOY IRKED OVER BI CARD PHOTO / PALACE JUSTIFIES HIRING $15G PR FIRM
MANILA, SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 (STAR) By Rudy Santos - President Aquino was reportedly irritated when he saw his photograph on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) card as he was about to board his flight to New York last Monday and immediately ordered that his photograph be removed.
Mr. Aquino has banned the placement of names or photographs of government officials on government projects.
Mr. Aquino was supposedly informed beforehand that his photograph had been placed on the departure/arrival cards issued to all passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
However, his order could not be immediately carried out because there are no replacements for the 30,000 cards needed daily.
For the past 10 years, the Airline Operators Council (AOC) had been printing and distributing the cards to all Philippine outbound and inbound passengers at no cost to the government.
The cards have to be filled up by every passenger, regardless of nationality or age.
Palace justifies hiring of PR firm By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated September 24, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (6) View comments
NEW YORK � President Aquino and his officials justified the hiring of a public relations firm, saying it was necessary and the cost was not as exorbitant as reported.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the amount paid for Kreab Gavin Anderson was only $15,000.
Speculation was that the government was paying P45 million for the firm�s services, on top of the P25 million allotted for the trip.
Kreab Gavin Anderson is a global public relations and communications partnership, advising corporations, governments and organizations on issues of strategic importance in business, finance and politics. Leading the team working with the Philippines is managing partner Andrew Frank, a statement from the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Purisima said it�s normal for the government to seek assistance especially outside the Philippines, read the statement.
�I was asked to look for it principally for the business media because as you know, the Philippines sells our debt abroad and it�s important that they get the message transparently, clearly, and on time,� he said.
�And we did. But I assure you that just like the rest of the trip we are very prudent in the use of government resources, frugal.�
Mr. Aquino said just on the Millennium Challenge Corp. grant alone, $430 million will be introduced into the economy.
�That is apart from all of the business meetings that we will have that will redound to a tremendous number of jobs,� he said.
�The expense, although kind of huge, pales in comparison to what we will be bringing home. So in terms of cost-benefit analysis, the benefit is tremendous and will far outweigh the cost.�
Purisima said the Arroyo administration spent up to $1 million a year for a PR contract.
�It�s really a one-time engagement but we�re actually looking around for someone we can hire on a regular basis.
�It is very important that the country�s message is explained properly outside, especially for the financial markets.
�It�s us � the Department of Finance and the central bank � that really need to make sure that the financial community thoroughly understands what is good in our country.�
Purisima said this would work for the interest of the Philippines.
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said that the public should realize that with the number of heads of state in New York, the Philippine delegation would have logistics and scheduling problems.
�Obviously we are trying to get attention for the Philippines,� he said.
�We are in competition with a lot of other people. We�re not the only one coming here... I personally and sincerely believe it�s something we need to do.�
Purisima added: �We�re talking about billions of dollars� commercial interest of the country. I just issued a billion-dollar worth of global peso bonds and it�s important that we communicate to our investor group. And we are in the process of doing a $3-billion bond exchange and we are talking about $15,000 here.
�The commercial interest of the country is very important and it is important that we communicate properly to the rest of the world.�
Purisima said the DOF and central bank would need to hire a PR firm on a permanent basis because their stakeholders are mostly outside the Philippines, and it is important to communicate with them � the ratings agencies, the financial organizations, the buyers of our bonds.
�It is important that we are able to reach out to them and that�s why we�re looking for the organization to help us do that but we have to go through a bidding process and it has started,� he said.
�Look for a problem somewhere else... it�s not with us because we manage things very well, we are very strict with the way we use our money,� he said.
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