Responding to Press Secretary Dave through Gomez’s invitation, we joined fellow representatives of mainstream media organizations in launching last week Oplan Kontra Fake News, a determined drive to debunk false and spurious stories propagated through social media.

It was heartening to see familiar faces, among them Undersecretary Mon Ilagan, a seasoned broadcaster who once served as Mayor of Cainta, Rizal; and Joyce Pañares of the Manila Standard who was among the officers of the Malacañang Press Corps during the administration of President Noynoy Aquino.

The Malacañang Press Corps is the premier beat, the ‘place to be’, where only the most seasoned and capable reporters are assigned. Manila Bulletin’s Betheena Unite joined her colleagues at the event. Together with senior reporter Argyll Cyrus Geducos, she covers daily activities and pronouncements from the Office of the President.

Parenthetically, President Marcos was hosting a state visitor, South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung at a business forum where both leaders signed several agreements on shipbuilding, aerospace, nuclear energy, and critical minerals.

The two parallel events are emblematic of the new media landscape. While traditional or legacy media organizations like the Manila Bulletin chronicle affairs of state and other events with global significance, their news desks constantly monitor and call out fake news that dominates social media outlets.

I welcomed the opportunity to walk down memory lane, having devoted six full years of my professional life to serving as Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) from 2010 to 2016. Previously, I also worked for two years at the Office of the President, under President Corazon Aquino.

On both occasions, I had been forewarned by well-meaning friends that working in the Palace is a perilous enterprise, considering that it is a so-called “snakepit” that not even the well-intentioned could thrive. Yet, as I walk down memory lane, I realize that indeed, those eight years that I spent working in the Palace taught me many valuable lessons that continue to serve me in good stead.

Working in the Palace often evokes images of gravity and ceremony. Yet for those who have served within its walls, Malacañang Palace is also a place of memorable human moments: lighthearted episodes that remind us that governance, even at its highest level, is still carried out by ordinary people trying to do their jobs well.

During my stint in the Presidential Management Staff under President Cory Aquino, the pace of work could be relentless. Meetings followed meetings, and memoranda arrived by the stack. But President Cory herself often broke the tension with her quiet humor.

As a leader, she encouraged contribution and participation. She gave her Cabinet members the opportunity to share their initiatives with other departments and to work together in related clusters and teams. This is the legacy of Jose ‘Ping’ de Jesus and Aniceto ‘Chito’ Sobrepeña who served successively as Cabinet Secretary. My stint as PMS Head was greatly enabled by the professionalism of the staff I “inherited” from both of them.

President Cory had a way of making the Palace feel less imposing. On some mornings she would walk through the corridors greeting staff with a soft Good Morning. For young staff members, many of whom were in their late twenties or early thirties, it was both disarming and inspiring to see the nation’s leader display such personal warmth.

Years later, while I was serving as Communications Secretary to President Noynoy Aquino, the Palace acquired a different rhythm. President Noynoy, as he preferred to be called, possessed a dry wit that often surfaced in the middle of policy discussions. During Cabinet meetings, he would patiently go over voluminous documents submitted to support policy recommendations. Some of my Cabinet colleagues came to these meetings less than fully prepared. Or they delegated their attendance to deputies who similarly thought they could pass muster. To their consternation and surprise, PNoy uncovered their being ill-prepared by asking simple questions that could be answered satisfactorily only if they truly did their homework.

The record would show that among post-EDSA Presidents, PNoy made the least changes in his Cabinet. He empowered his direct reports to choose their own undersecretaries and subordinates and this enabled them not just to perform well, but even level up.

President Noynoy also had a fondness for casual banter with Palace reporters. Many of them could look back to his tenure at the Palace with happy memories.

Looking back, these modest vignettes reveal something enduring: that behind the formal trappings of power, Malacañang remains a workplace animated by humor, humility, and human connection. Such moments, fleeting though they were, made the long hours of public service not only bearable but deeply memorable.

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