PCOO gaffes have ‘no malicious intent’

FILE: Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar (Photo by ACE MORANDANTE/PPD)

MANILA –– Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar on Tuesday admitted that his agency had made mistakes in the past but stressed that these mistakes had no “malicious intent.”

Andanar made this remark during the second Senate panel hearing on fake news noting that the mistakes should not be the sole basis of the PCOO’s performance.

“We have made mistakes in the past and we have been held accountable for them. But these were honest mistakes with no intention to malign anybody and with no malicious intent,” Andanar said in his speech.

“These should not overshadow or speak for the work of thousands in government who work tirelessly to provide the public the right and useful information,” he added.

Andanar also told the committee that the agency should not be judged on the personal blog ran by its Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson.

“If we judge PCOO based on Mocha’s blog, I think it’s also unfair for thousands of workers of government media who work so hard para po lumakas ang ating plataporma (to strengthen our platform),” Andanar said.

He said that the PCOO and its attached agencies including the People’s Television Network, Philippine Information Agency, Philippine News Agency, among others should be the basis of the agency’s performance.

“The Mocha Blog does not represent PCOO. Ang ating iba’t ibang media platforms ang opisyal na government platform. Ito ang dapat basehan ng scorecard ng PCOO (Our various media platforms are the government’s official platforms),” he added.

Andanar, meanwhile, assured the PCOO and its attached agencies and the over 1,000 employees would continue to work very hard to communicate and promote the government’s programs and policies.

The Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media hearing is ongoing as of posting time.