President's office no online presence 2 days before SONA

Nearly a month after President Benigno Simeon Aquino III assumed the presidency, the Office of the President has yet to make its presence felt online, with visitors still getting a message that a new site is under construction.

The Office of the President and Philippine government portal still features a message saying it is still under construction, nearly a month after the new administration took over. GMANews.TV

As of Saturday morning, the sites of the OP and the government portal still featured the placeholders featuring an image of President Aquino. "Rest assured we are working hard on a new website that will reflect my commitment to greater transparency and accountability. Stay tuned!" the message read. The placeholder currently on the website is actually a revised version of a placeholder template posted by independent blogger Rico Mossesgeld on his website, the Technograph blog, in response to the Aquino administration's inability to update the OP site. There was no indication when the new website will be put up. Aquino will deliver his first State of the Nation Address before the 15th Congress on Monday. On the other hand, Aquino's staff maintains his page on social networking site Facebook.

Online visitors to President Aquino can still go to his Facebook page. GMANews.TV

Perhaps contributing to the delay in updating the OP website is President Aquino's efforts to finalize his communications group, which is the restructured Office of the Press Secretary. Though the group's formation has yet to be announced, former ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) broadcast journalist Ricky Carandang had already begun speaking to media on the Palace's behalf. Carandang on Thursday revelead several details on the President's speech for the SONA, including the length it would take him to deliver it — between 25 to 30 minutes. He and Manuel "Manolo" Quezon III had resigned from ANC amid reports that they were being tapped to join the communications group. Aside from ANC, Quezon, who wrote Aquino's inaugural speech, has also given up his post as an opinion writer in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Carandang was said to be in charge of crafting Malacañang's messages for the media, while BusinessWorld columnist Herminio Coloma would head the media operations. But even before the communications group could be formally minted, people have begun speculating about possible creases in working relations within the group. Carandang and Quezon are identified with the Liberal Party/Hyatt 10 group, while Montelibano and Coloma are with the Samar group. A rivalry allegedly exists between the two groups. — with Mark D. Merueñas / LBG, GMANews.TV