Cheyenne Suarez

Palace orders courtesy resignations of PCO officials

Article (news)

Katrina Domingo

<p>MANILA -- All appointed officials under the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) have been asked to tender their courtesy resignations to give new Communications Secretary Jay Ruiz a &quot;free hand in performing his duties and functions.&quot;</p><p>Officials were given until February 28 to submit their courtesy resignations, according to a February 25 document from the office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/24/jay-ruiz-takes-oath-as-pco-chief-claire-castro-named-palace-press-officer-1203">READ: Jay Ruiz takes oath as PCO chief; Claire Castro named Palace press officer</a></div><p>&quot;In the exigency of service and in order to give the new PCO Secretary a free hand in performing his duties and functions, all incumbent Presidential Appointees in agencies, offices and bureaus under the PCO are hereby directed to tender their unqualified courtesy resignations,&quot; the memorandum read.</p><p>&quot;The above directive shall apply to all Presidential Appointees… under the PCO whose appointments are not permanent,&quot; it read.</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1895710462844813762&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-03-01T05%3A57%3A30.356402%3A993e5fcf-0261-49f1-b140-69bbcf703f3f%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=45c9182948ef6b5b7856d26dc82807a7f2e7ab04&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:873px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1895710462844813762"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>All officials covered by the memorandum are expected to &quot;continue to report for work and perform their usual duties&quot; unless the President, Executive Secretary or PCO Secretary says otherwise, Bersamin said in his letter.</p><p>Ruiz was also directed to closely monitor the compliance of PCO officials.</p><p>Ruiz — a former journalist — replaced former Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez in late February after the latter tendered his irrevocable resignation, citing shortcomings from expectations.</p><p>Ruiz earlier said that among the primary directives he received was to fight disinformation.</p><p>ABS-CBN News has reached out to Ruiz to ask how many new officials are expected to enter the PCO under his tenure, but he has yet to respond to queries.</p>

<p>Officials were given until February 28 to submit their courtesy resignations, according to a February 25 document from the office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.</p>

Officials were given until February 28 to submit their courtesy resignations, according to a February 25 document from the office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.