During a radio interview with DZRH, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said that the Philippine News Agency (PNA) website was hacked last Friday.
“Someone wants to get information or maybe go back to some mistakes made,” he said.
Andanar explained that they discovered an IP address that tried to log in to the website’s old server.
READ: Filipinos share what looks like another error from state-owned Philippine News Agency (PNA)
“Because in the old dashboard, you can see the mistakes of the Philippine News Agency, you can trace it, right,” he said.
Last Friday, the PNA website was once again criticized after screenshots of its articles showing editor’s notes went viral on social media.
In a text message to Rappler, Andadar said that the cyber hack was is not linked to the screenshots shared last week.
He did say though that he thinks the hack was done to sabotage him, the PNA, and President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Who else do they want to bring down if not me, eventually the president, right,” Andanar said.
He proposed a similar theory in August after two mistakes by the PNA were made public.
READ: Another boo-boo: state-owned Philippine News Agency uses wrong DOLE logo in story
This included publishing an editorial by Chinese government new agency Xinhua and using the Dole Food Corporation logo for an article about the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
During the radio interview, Andanar said that the National Bureau of Investigation’s cyber crime team is investigating the hacking incident.
The government has not determined whether the hacking was an inside job.
