MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday said it will not interfere in the plan of Press Secretary-designate Rose Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles to accredit vloggers to join presidential events and Palace press briefings.

Acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said he will leave it to Cruz-Angeles to respond to questions about the accreditation of vloggers.

“The plan to grant press credentials to bloggers in Malacañang is an internal decision of the incoming administration. Any reaction or queries on the matter should therefore be best answered by the next administration’s Press Secretary-designate,” he said.

This is not the first time that the administration of a sitting president has tried to accredit vloggers and other social media personalities.

In 2017, the PCOO accredited vloggers or social media personalities with at least 5,000 followers to attend presidential events through Department Order No. 15.

“The purpose of this Order is to provide an interim system of accreditation for social media participation in the coverage of special events attended by the President, in order to generate news and information for the citizenry through social media platforms,” the order read.

Under the order, a social media practitioner refers to “a person that maintains a publicly-accessible social media page, blog or website which generates content and whose principal advocacy is the regular dissemination of original news and/or opinion of interest.”

On June 1, Cruz-Angeles said she would push for a policy that would allow vloggers to cover Malacañang events, including the activities of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“We are pushing for the accreditation of vloggers to be invited to some of the briefings, especially those conducted by the President-elect,” she said.

Cruz-Angeles said she would also be reviewing the existing policies on media coverage.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said while democratizing access to government by way of vloggers is “commendable in principle”, they were concerned that it may likely benefit pro-Marcos vloggers.

“Wider access is good, but must not be at the expense of institutional media, which has been sidelined during the campaign as false information spread rapidly online, many of which have been traced to the same network,” the NUJP said. (PNA)