Just over a year after announcing a new communications secretary, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. found himself in familiar territory: having to explain the appointment of yet another chief of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
Is the sixth time the charm? Lino Cayetano, former Taguig City mayor and PTV-4 general manager, will be taking on a post that’s been occupied by five different people in the past four years of Marcos.
Here’s how Marcos framed Dave Gomez’s exit and Cayetano’s entry in an interview with media on Tuesday, October 13: “The reason that we keep turning, we have this high turnover is because the job keeps changing in terms of what we are trying to put forward.”
Marcos added: “In the beginning, we were talking about policy and now we are talking about — then we started talking about what we had to do in terms of implementation. And then we started having to talk — now we are having to talk about getting more towards the more political aspects of the communications job.”
“So, it keeps changing and that’s why we have to keep restructuring it and to be able to satisfy what… especially the demands that you make upon our Presidential Communications group. So yes, that’s what’s behind that.”
Let’s take a small step back and drill down on a line the President uttered: “Now we are having to talk about getting more towards the more political aspects of the communications job.”
Political? If we’re referring to political pedigree and experience, then new Communications Secretary Lino Cayetano would certainly have much to boast of.
Cayetano is the youngest in the current generation of his clan in politics. He also happens to be estranged from his older siblings, Pia and Alan Peter, who are both senators. All three (plus another sibling) are the children of the late former senator Rene Cayetano.
The youngest of the Cayetano clan in politics has held various posts in government — from barangay (village) chief, to district representative, to mayor. He tried to return to Congress in the 2025 polls but lost to a candidate who was backed by his sister-in-law Lani, Senator Alan Peter’s wife.
The older Cayetanos belong to the minority in the Senate that’s identified with Vice President Sara Duterte, Marcos’ erstwhile ally.
Lino Cayetano was also a film and TV director before joining politics full-time.
But what political aspect of the communications job must the new PCO chief pay attention to?
With just under two years left in the administration, two things would probably be foremost in the minds of Malacañang and the new communications chief: the Marcos administration’s legacy and, in relation to that, setting a favorable environment ahead of the 2028 presidential elections.
Cayetano would be the first communications chief under Marcos to have held an elected position in the past. The first communications secretary under Marcos was vlogger Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who was eased out in the first three months of the Marcos administration.
She was followed by Cheloy Garafil, who chaired the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) before being appointed secretary general of the House of Representatives.
Cesar Chavez, a radio broadcaster and long-time political communications operative, held the post for just over six months. Before Gomez, former ABS-CBN journalist Jay Ruiz was the administration’s primary communications person for four months.
Gomez, who once worked at Philip Morris International Philippines, at least held on to the position for over a year — despite never having faced the Commission on Appointments (CA). That he was bypassed by the CA is part of why he had to be replaced. Talk, for a while, has been that he would have had a hard time hurdling the CA anyway, precisely because of his previous role in a tobacco giant company.
Will Lino Cayetano at least get close to the length of Garafil’s term (almost two years) — which is to say, will he stay on until the end of this administration? If the President’s statements are any indication, that’ll all depend on the “demands that you make upon our Presidential Communications group.” – Rappler.com