Communications Secretary Martin Andanar has signed an interim policy for accrediting bloggers to cover the events of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Andanar signed on August 8 Department Order no. 15 entitled “Interim Social Media Practitioner Accreditation.”
“In the interest of recognizing emerging communication platforms and harnessing the full potential of social media tools in pursuit of the PCOO’s mandate to engage the citizenry in order to enrich the quality of discourse on matters of national governance, an interim/provisional social media practitioner accreditation is established,” the DO read.
The DO said social media accreditation shall be issued to a Filipino citizen who is at least 18 years of age and has at least five thousand followers on any social media platform.
Social media practitioners who want to want to cover events of the President may apply at the Social Media Office (SMO) at the New Executive Building in Malacañang.
The SMO, which would be headed by Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, was created under DO 13 on July 14.