PCOO apologizes for yet another blunder after getting senator’s name wrong

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian was called “Winston Gatchalian” by the Presidential Communications Operations Office. Photo from ABS-CBN News.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian was called “Winston Gatchalian” by the Presidential Communications Operations Office. Photo from ABS-CBN News.

Well, this is embarrassing.

Fresh off its “Norwegia” controversy, the Philippines’ Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) was again called out over the weekend for an error it had published. This time, it got a senator’s name completely wrong.

On Saturday, Senator Win Gatchalian tweeted screenshots of a PCOO news release published on June 13 that referred to him as “Winston Gatchalian.”

The problem? His nickname “Win” is actually short for “Sherwin.”

“Is there hope left for the PCOO???” Gatchalian wrote in his tweet.

Gatchalian, who was a mayor and congressperson for Valenzuela City before becoming a senator in 2016 has always been known by his nickname (his campaign slogan writes itself), but one would think the PCOO, the government’s official communication’s office, would know his name.

This could have also been avoided with a quick Google search.

In an erratum published by the PCOO on Saturday, it apologized for its mistake.

“It is our duty to disseminate accurate information and this error is not in accordance with the standards of the President’s communications team,” it read.

You don’t say?

It also promised to apply stricter measures to avoid similar mistakes.

But this is far from the PCOO’s first error. Just the previous weekend, it went viral for a Facebook post where it called the country Norway “Norwegia.”

A day after that post, it also wrongly called the late National Security Adviser Jose Roilo Golez as “Rogelio” in a tweet.

Last Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque defended the PCOO from those who criticized it for the “Norwegia” error.

“I’m sure they will learn again from this experience in the same way they have learned from the experience of the past,” Roque said.

Don’t hold your breath on that.



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