My second month in government
As stated in an earlier post, I officially started as the first New Media Head under the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on August 1, 2010. In September 2010, most of my team were already on-board and we were slowly integrating ourselves into the traditional operations of the former Office of the Press Secretary. Being a new unit, we needed to learn many aspects of government work, chief of which, was the establishment of our own internal policies and guidelines into how we will conduct our daily operations.
Of course, the main highlight of September 2010, was the President's first official visit to the US where he met with senior US officials, had a 7-minute chat with US President Barack Obama, received the MCC grant and also met with some leading US business leaders and members of the US Filipino communities.
photo courtesy of Jay Morales (Malacanang Photo Bureau)
The first foreign trip of the President set the tone on budgetary allocations for all his foreign trips - which was to ensure that every centavo that the State pays for is well-accounted for.
During the last part of September, we were busy preparing for the First 100 Days Town Hall meeting which was held at the La Consolacion College (Manila) on October 8, 2010. (more on that on the next post)
Be a hero
Let's have a short break from my series on working in government.
Today, I want to share with you the presentation I shared with students from De La Salle University and other schools last October 23, 2010 when they invited me to discuss The Ripple Effect during the 3rd Business Management Students' Convention.
It was my first public presentation to students as a government employee. The title is 'Be a hero.'
First month in government (August 2010)
I reported for work in Malacañang Palace as the first Head for New Media of the Presidential Communications Operations Office last July 29, 2010. I started working using my personal laptop (which I actually used for the whole year I was in government, just one of the challenges when working in government) as our unit was just about to be created.
The office, which was the former Office of the Press Secretary, was re-organized through Executive Order No. 4 which re-organized the former OPS as the Presidential Communications Operations Office or PCOO where I worked and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSP). PCOO was headed by Sec. Sonny Coloma and PCDSPO was headed by Sec. Ricky Carandang.
I officially started on August 1 since EO#4 was just issued on August 4, 2010.
The Official Website and Social Media Presence of the Office of the President
Upon joining, our immediate task was to be able to launch the President's official website and his presence on Social Media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. This was part of the Feedback Mechanism the President promised to open the communications lines between the Palace and the general public.
On my first two weeks, I barely slept because we set August 16 as the launch date for the President's website. I had only 1 staff then and together with another consultant, we were basically working through the weekend along with the web developers to come up with a design and a working template so that we can launch the website of the President on the target date.
I remember sleeping in the office of the web developers just so that we can finalize everything and I didn't even get to change clothes when I went home that day. It was all worth it though because it gave us all a crash course on government work. While I was working on this, I was also practically studying what the Obama team did in the 2008 campaign and also what they did when their administration began in January 2009.
August 16, 2010
August 16 was the day we launched the President's website. I could still remember the feeling in my stomach that day. I couldn't eat anything. We made a decision to rename the website address from www.op.gov.ph to www.president.gov.ph. Sec. Coloma officially launched the website and within 3 hours, almost 16,000 people visited the website. This just shows people really want to be updated on the President's and the government's activities, policies and programs.
My first time to speak on TV as a public servant:
P-Noy's website on TV5 by Maricel Halili
P-Noy's website on 24 Oras by Michael Fajatin
August 23, 2010
My first taste of a negative public outcry came on August 23, the day 8 Chinese nationals were killed during a hostage incident in Luneta. It seemed like the longest day in my life, we were busy monitoring online conversations and discussions about the hostage crisis.
And the next day, a huge number of comments from Hong Kong nationals flooded the President's official Facebook page and it started a word war between Filipinos and Hong Kong nationals. My team decided to temporarily disable the posting on the President's Facebook Page's wall to stop the escalating word war. We did not ban comments but rather stopped the posting of more wall posts because there were fake Facebook accounts that were already flooding the page with cuss words and foul language. I was surprised to find on the news the next day that the media reported our move as a curtailment on freedom of expression. I got my first state of what is called a 'media spin.' (I found out there will be many in the days, weeks and months ahead).
We learned a lot during this first month and it gave us an opportunity to be better prepared next time. Managing a crisis is quite difficult in this day and age as conversations can continue online all through the night.
My first lesson in government: When the going gets tough, the tough relax. It is very important to remain calm in the face of challenges especially when working in government as ordinary citizens will usually look up to the image of the President and the government when a crisis happens. Government officials and employees have to be strong in their resolve and provide stability.
Why I joined the government last year
I have seen so many changes over the last 2 years. Over the next few weeks, I will be outlining key lessons learned and my experiences starting from becoming part of the campaign in late 2009 to early 2010 and in my stint as the first (being a new unit) New Media Head under the Presidential Communications Operations Office from July 2010 to July 2011.
In late 2009, I resigned my job and volunteered to campaign for Atty. Alex Lacson, who was running for Senator under the team of now President Noynoy Aquino. He is one of my living heroes. He wrote the book entitled "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country," which promotes the principles of good citizenship. Good citizenship is all about Filipinos helping fellow Filipinos, and in the process building a nation. His book invites all of us to become active participants in nation-building and to become part of the solutions to our country's problems.
A little background
All of us want to make a difference in the world; especially for me who grew up in Mindanao, in Cotabato City in particular, I have always wanted to feel how it is to be in the nation's capital and influence things. And so my journey to Manila began.
I went to college in Davao City and I was fortunate enough to be offered a job in Laguna after I graduated. I was in the private sector for a period of 5 years before deciding I wanted an unconventional career, one that I will be shaping and developing on my own, with help from a few friends. I have always believed that life is what you make of it - close to the saying if life hands you lemons, make a lemonade.
In the middle of 2006, I was fortunate enough to meet Atty. Alex Lacson, who happened to read something I wrote that was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. We met in a coffee shop and talked about our aspirations and dreams for the country. We kept in touch for the next few years and in 2007, when his name was floated as a possible Senatorial candidate, I immediately offered to be part of the volunteers for his campaign. Fortunately, he did not run then. This period allowed me to continue working for an international bank and later on to a fast-moving consumer goods company where I honed my inter-personal, networking, marketing, negotiation and selling skills. Skills that I later learned were quite invaluable.
When Alex Lacson decided to run for the Senate in late 2009, I immediately resigned from my job and offered to help him in his New Media campaign. President Obama's campaign in 2008 already showed us that Social Media now plays a role in elections and though the Philippines lags the US in terms of Internet penetration, there are now 30 million average Internet users per month in the country (a substantial percentage of Filipino voters). And so in December 2009, I joined the small band of volunteers that was to be the Alex Lacson for Senator Movement.
Look who's at the background, taken during Rock the Vote Concert May 2, 2010
It was an enriching campaign (will tell you more in a separate article). I learned a lot of lessons and met a lot of people. I met a lot of wonderful people during the campaign - people who were very passionate in helping build Our Dream Philippines, a country we can all be proud of.
Alex Lacson finished with over 5 million votes. A remarkable feat but it was not enough to land him in the top 12.
In late July 2010, when I was already preparing to go back to the private sector, I was invited to head the New Media unit which was to be created under a new Office of the Press Secretary (now called Presidential Communications Operations Office or PCOO for short). I hesitated at first because I knew working in government would be challenging but I also knew I would probably regret not trying. And so I joined the government in late July 2010 and officially started August 1, 2010; responsible for the Office of the President's official website (http://www.president.gov.ph) and official presence on social networking channels such as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/presidentnoy) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/presidentnoy), among others.
Launching of www.president.gov.ph last August 16, 2010
It was an opportunity to make a difference for the country and to help introduce the concept of New Media in Public Service/Governance to government agencies (insert ---> footnote in history as the first New Media Head). It has allowed me to touch base with so many people in government and gain insights into how our government works and also how we can help the government.
Over the next few weeks, I will be outlining lessons I've learned and hopefully from the perspective of a former insider, you can also learn why we all need to help each other in building the Philippines we all dream of.