In 1987, the Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) was established by presidential order to serve as the official news agency for the President of the Philippines, providing media services and support.
Media assets
News agency: RTVM
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
RTVM is a unit of the PCO, the Presidential Commission in the Philippines. The RTVM was established by virtue of Executive Order No. 297, signed by former President Corazon C. Aquino in 1987.
Source of funding and budget
The RTVM is a government-funded entity, with its operations overseen by the Presidential Administration. In 2022, RTVM operated with a budget of PHP 171.9m (US$ 3.4m), according to data provided by the government.
Media reports indicate that the RTVM is to receive a state budget allocation of PHP 256.5m (US$ 5.1m) in 2025.
Editorial independence
RTVM serves as a communications arm for the incumbent President of the Philippines, with its primary function being to document all official engagements of the President. The agency is responsible for producing coverage of the President’s work and for publishing this output or sharing it with other media outlets. As outlined in RTVM’s Handbook, the internal set of rules that governs the agency’s operations, RTVM’s mandate is “to provide the necessary media services to the incumbent President.”
As a presidential news agency, RTVM is wholly owned and operated by the presidential administration, which has complete authority over all aspects of the outlet’s editorial policy.
To date, no independent assessment mechanism to validate the RTVM’s editorial performance has been identified.
September 2024