Paul Soriano no longer the presidential adviser for creative communications—senator
Filmmaker Paul Soriano is no longer the presidential adviser for creative communications, Sen. Sonny Angara said on Thursday, Nov. 9.
This was revealed during the Senate's plenary budget deliberations, in which Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III asked who funded the “We give the world our best—The Philippines” ad campaign that was previously seen on London buses.
To recall, May Parsons, a Filipino-British nurse who administered the very first COVID-19 vaccine shot, shared a picture of a bus with a banner that had her face and a text that read, "The nurse who gave the world's first COVID-19 vaccine. A Filipina. WE GIVE THE WORLD OUR BEST. THE PHILIPPINES."
"It's not the OP (Office of the President) your honor, possibly the DOT," Angara said.
“So it was not a certain presidential adviser kung ganon?” Pimentel replied without naming the presidential adviser.
Angara then speculated that the money used for the advertising campaign was not from the official funds, "Kung meron man, it was not [from] official funds. Kung mayroon man. Baka initiative niya personally baka ganon? I’m just speculating."
Pimentel remained firm, questioning why no one seemed to care about finding out the source of funding for the ad campaign.
Angara said he was told that the campaign was launched when Soriano was serving as the creative communications adviser.
"It was still during the time of Director Paul Soriano. That’s what I’m told baka sya ang nakakaalam, we’ll ask," Angara replied.
Pimentel then asked, "Wala na ba siya ngayon?"
"Wala na po," Angara answered without disclosing why Soriano no longer held the post.
Pimentel said that government agencies should have an "institutional memory" system to retain knowledge from employees who leave the service.
"Pero dapat ang mga institution natin, agencies, dapat may institutional memory naman diba? Pag-alis nung tao wala nang may alam. What's happening to our government agencies, Mr. President?"
As of writing, Malacañang and Soriano have yet to address the issue.
Soriano was named presidential adviser on creative communications in October last year.
On July 25, the President Communications Office, through its secretary Cheloy Garafil, announced that Soriano went on leave due to "personal reasons." He was supposed to direct the 2023 SONA before Radio Television Malacañang took over last minute.
Meanwhile, last August, Toni Gonzaga gave birth to her second child with Soriano. The couple were staunch supporters of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his campaign.