The Palace defended the airing of President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting with his political party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) on state-owned People’s Television Network (PTV-4).
In an online press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said PTV-4 covered the two-hour event due to its “newsworthiness.”
He said PTV will be “outscooped” by other media entities had it not covered the event, which happened in Malacañang on Tuesday evening and aired the following day.
The meeting was exclusively aired by PTV.
Roque said the meeting is considered a presidential event despite its “political” nature.
“The President has always been chairman of PDP-Laban and there is simply no way to separate the political personality of the President from his functions because he was elected by the people, his position is principally political,” Roque said.
Roque did not answer when asked if the meeting of other government officials with their political parties will be given the same coverage by PTV.
During the meeting, which was presided by PDP-Laban vice chairman and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Duterte announced he was seriously considering running as vice president in the 2022 elections.
This, after several members of the PDP-Laban gave their testimonies on why Duterte should run for the position.