New Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Jay Ruiz will not give his position up after facing an apparent disinformation about him being a co-founder of a private media firm that secured a multimillion-peso contract with a government agency.
Ruiz said he will not resign over the report, which he strongly tagged as fake news.
"Ilalaban natin 'to. Hindi tayo magpapadaig sa fake news, hinding hindi tayo magpapadaig sa ganitong sistema (We will fight for this. We will not back down over fake news, we will not be defeated by systems like this)," Ruiz said in an interview at Malacañan on Tuesday, March 4.
Ruiz said this confronting a report saying that he co-founded Digital 8 Inc. which secured ₱206.052 million worth of contracts from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the last quarter of 2024.
In a Palace briefing on Tuesday, he vehemently denied co-founding the company, including having shares in the media firm.
"I don’t own a share; I’m not a stockholder; I am not an owner of Digital 8. I was an authorized representative, to represent the company in the joint venture agreement between IBC-13, Digi8, and PCSO. I never owned that company," he clarified.
The Palace media chief also said he will not file charges against the people behind the report.
"Ako siguro hindi muna, kasi it would distract myself sa focus. Hindi na muna. Kasi hindi naman ako istorya dito, e (Not yet, because it would distract myself from the focus. Not yet. Because I am not the story here). I work for the President," he said.
He reiterated this during the Palace briefing, saying he will instead direct his focus to his function as the PCO secretary.
"Kung kagabi mo ako kinausap magpa-file ako ng cyber libel sa kanila, pero (If you asked me last night, I would file a cyber liber against them, but) this is not about me, this is about government communication," Ruiz said.
"Hindi naman maganda iyong optics ng isang presidential communication office secretary nag-file laban sa mga taong gumagawa ng fake news (It is not a good optics that a presidential communication office secretary files charges against purveyors of fake news)," he added.
"[A]gain the focus here is to bring government communication to the people, hindi po ito para sa akin, para sa tao, para sa—ang gobyerno ang malaman ng mga tao ang programa at polisiya ng gobyerno na puwede nilang pakinabangan (this is not for me, this is for the people, for the government to make the people aware of the programs and policies of the government they can benefit from)," he further said.
The PCO chief also said there are few possible motives behind the allegation against him, one of them is the current revamp within the PCO.
"[M]arami akong nakikitang dahilan – siguro dalawa, tatlo. Mayroon kasing mga mangyayari dito na kinakailangan kong gawin. Mayroong balasahan na mangyayari, may mga… ang utos ng Executive Secretary lahat, from director up, kailangan magsumite ng courtesy resignations. I don’t know kung bakit… I don’t know—mayroon akong slight na siguro kung bakit nila ginagawa ‘to ano (I'm seeing many reasons, maybe two, three. Because there are actions that need to be taken. There is a revamp happening, there is an order from the Executive Secretary directing, from directors up, to file a courtesy resignation. I don't know why, but I have a slight intuition why they are doing this)," Ruiz said.
While the issue has led to him releasing a statement and holding a press briefing to give clarification, it has not reached President Marcos yet, Ruiz said.