MANILA — The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) deferred the implementation of its new accreditation guidelines for journalists covering President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Malacañang on Monday, a day before the stricter policy took effect.

The implementation was suspended after Communications Secretary Jay Ruiz had a dialogue with officials of the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC).

Under the PCO and MPC’s agreement, journalists covering President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not be required to submit new accreditation documents until contentious items in the new policy have been finalized.

Among these issues are the length of tenure of a journalist with an organization and a news entity’s length of existence, among others.

Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro earlier said that the guidelines have yet to be finalized. 

“Hindi pa naman po iyan final kung meron po kasi wala po akong hawak na guidelines ngayon,” she said in a radio interview.

“Kailangan po repasuhin muna lahat kasi para po yung mga dating accreditation hindi po magamit, maabuso,” she said.

The PCO’s new accreditation guidelines were released on April 25, about an hour before the end of office hours.

It was supposed to take effect on April 29, or two working days after it was released.

The PCO earlier said that it wanted to tighten coverage policies for Marcos' events to ensure security. 

The memo was supposed to be internal until news website Politiko reported the story.