Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Saturday said the government would look into possible sabotage following a string of errors at the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).
In a press conference in Baguio City, Andanar said such possibility was raised in the wake of another error at the agency, where the wrong photo was posted on its website.
“Sabi ng iba, baka mayroon nang nanabutahe sa’yo. We will find out kung may nanabutahe na,” he said.
(Some people said maybe someone’s sabotaging you. We will find id there really is anyone sabotaging us.)
The PNA on Friday used the logo of DOLE Food Co. to accompany a government press release on the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) pay rules for the 2018 holidays.
The error, which drew flak online, was later on corrected. The PNA issued an apology, calling it “a careless act” of its staff.
Andanar, meanwhile, dismissed critics of the PNA, saying the news agency was already gaining readership unlike before.
“Tuloy-tuloy lang nila ang bashing. ‘Di naman namin binabasa (Let them continue the bashing. We don’t read it anyway). We are just here to serve the president, residents and God,” said Andanar.
“Ang PNA po ngayon binabasa na, umasenso na siya kahit papaano pero mayroon lang po talaga na marunong pero ‘di committed,” he said.
(The PNA is now being read, it’s somehow improving but there are really just some who are knowledgeable but not committed.)
PNA’s error on Friday was not the first.
In May, the PNA apologized for posting a photo of soldiers in Vietnam for its story “Urban warfare a challenge for soldiers in Marawi.”
Two personnel of PNA’s News and Information Bureau were
suspended following the errors.
The PNA was also called out for its May 15 story titled “95 states convinced there are no EJKs in PHL,” released after the Philippines faced the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
UPR denied the story, which was subsequently taken down.
The PNA also drew flak for publishing a commentary released by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, which called “ill-founded” the United Nations’ arbitral ruling on the South China Sea disputes that favored the Philippines.
The post was also later taken down.
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