2 separate budgets for CommGroup eyed

Two Cabinet secretaries and two budgets for one department. This unique setup looms in President Benigno Aquino III's Communications Group, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda indicated Thursday. The newly created department replaces the Office of the Press Secretary, which has been in charge of various government information agencies since the administration of Aquino's mother, former president Corazon Aquino. "In all likelihood there'll be two budgets defended before Congress," said Lacierda at a press briefing in Malacañang. Former broadcast journalist Ricky Carandang and former Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) secretary Sonny Coloma will separately defend the budgets for the department's messaging and dissemination groups, respectively, said Lacierda. As head of the messaging group, Carandang is in charge of producing and packaging the messages of the president. Meanwhile, Coloma will oversee the operations of the government's feedback mechanism as well as government-owned stations such as NBN 4, RPN 9, and IBC 13. The probability that both Carandang and Coloma will both get Cabinet ranks is considered unusual in Philippine government. Factions within the team that supported Aquino’s campaign may have resulted to this setup. Carandang and his deputy Manuel L. Quezon III—who holds the rank of undersecretary—are reportedly being pushed by campaigners who backed the Liberal Party tandem of Aquino and former Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II. On the other hand, Coloma is said to belong to the camp that supported Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay. [See: How Binay became the 2010 election surprise] On Wednesday, Coloma and Carandang both assured the public of a united Communications Group despite the seeming disarray and insisted that they would be working hand-in-hand to effectively deliver the President's messages. On Thursday, however, the two camps could not even agree on whether the executive order creating the Communications Group has been signed. While Coloma confirmed the news that the EO has been signed, Lacierda, who is said to be an ally of Carandang, said he was not aware of such a development. "I'm not aware that the EO for the Communications Group has been signed. I know for a fact that the EO for the Truth Commission will be the first EO so I don’t know where the good secretary got his information," said Lacierda. - KBK, GMANews.TV