PCOO draws flak over Norway blunder
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) became the buzz among netizens anew for its controversial Facebook post erroneously referring to Norway as “Norwegia.”
Netizens feasted on PCOO’s Facebook photo gallery of President Duterte’s meeting with outgoing Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines Erik Førner.
The PCOO, however, referred to the envoy as the “representative of Norwegia.”
Some netizens were quick to add the “fictional country” to their travel bucket list, while some accused the Philippine government of inventing geography.
Some netizens also criticized the PCOO for making such mistake despite its budget of 11.38 billion for 2018, a 4.6 percent increase from its 2017 budget.
The PCOO edited the caption of the said post but not until netizens were able to take screenshots of the controversial post.
PCOO Undersecretary for Media Lorraine Badoy explained that the mistake was just a typographical error.
“We’ve brought shame and destruction to this country – how unforgivable. A typo.
“And from a department that has transformed the government communication system so that MILLIONS of Filipinos are in direct link with the government – where before they never felt the presence of government in their lives,” she defended.
Badoy also defended the PCOO’s budget, saying it has the smallest budget of all government agencies.
PCOO was earlier crticized for the grammatical errors found in the identification cards issued to members of the press covering the events of President Duterte and other Malacañang events.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar earlier explained that the error-riddled IDs was a result of breached protocols.
He explained that the backside of the ID was never shown to him and that the International Press Center (IPC) used his e-signature without permission.
Prior to this, PCOO transcribers were also called out for releasing a transcript of a radio interview with “President Duterte,” who turned out to be just an impersonator.
PCOO also drew flak for posting a controversial video during the height of the Marawi Siege which said, “Martial law should be the rule of the land. Martial law now.”