SCUTTLEBUTT

Impasse at the Palace

The feud between Presidential Communications Office Secretary Jay Ruiz and the Palace press corps has reached fever pitch, deadlocked over the PCO effort to have a beat reporter removed.

Ruiz, according to the whiff Nosey Tarsee got from the halls of power, stood pat behind the Media Accreditation and Relations Office’s (MARO) effort to have Net 25 reporter Eden Santos replaced for alleged violation of media protocols during an event attended by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Tarlac on 25 June.

Footage from the event showed Santos leaving the designated area for the media and rushing toward the President for an interview without clearance. Reacting instinctively to the perceived security breach, a uniformed security person moved to block her.

Ruiz wrote Malacañang Press Corps officer-in-charge Ivan Mayrina, insisting the incident was not a minor lapse but “a serious disruption that endangered the President’s security and undermined order at the event.”

“Covering the President of the Republic is not an ordinary beat. It demands discipline, decorum and adherence to established security protocols—not only out of respect for the office but for the personal safety of the Chief Executive and everyone on site,” Ruiz wrote.

Santos’s action prompted other journalists to follow her, escalating the situation and placing an additional strain on the Presidential Security Team.

“This chain reaction unnecessarily disrupted the flow of the event and created a bad precedent that, if unaddressed, risks eroding the discipline that has long governed Palace coverage,” Ruiz said.

President Marcos was then being led by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla to the stage where he was to deliver his remarks.

Ruiz said the reporter’s charging towards the Chief Executive was “unsolicited, unsanctioned, and in violation of the MARO-issued guidelines,” which strictly prohibits ambush interviews and unauthorized approaches.

Ruiz informed Mayrina that NET 25 reaffirmed its position to adhere to protocols in covering the President, to wit:

“Let me also take this opportunity to inform you that we received a letter from NET 25 News and Information chief Paul Padua affirming the network’s assurance that “we will follow protocols and abide by the policy imposed for the coverage” in Tacloban, Leyte on 7 July. We see this as a welcome development in light of the Tarlac incident.”

In another incident, Santos allegedly committed another infraction during the briefing of Undersecretary Claire Castro at the Philippine Information Agency on 14 May, where she uttered invectives, shouting “bastos!” at one of the PCO staff.

The Malacanang Press Corps (MPC) challenged Ruiz’s basis for requesting Santos’s replacement as the journalists covering the President cited the need to protect press freedom and resist efforts to limit independent reporting.

“The ‘request’ was a clear overreach of the PCO’s authority. While the officers recognize the need to ensure the President’s safety and well-being, it should never be at the expense of the freedom of the press to tell stories that go beyond photo opportunities, press releases and rehearsed sound bites,” MPC’s letter to the PCO said.