PNA staff member 'Googled' Dole logo for DOLE pay rules story —Andanar

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told congressmen Tuesday that a staff member of the Philippine News Agency, who did not know the logo of the Department of Labor and Employment, culled a wrong thumbnail used in a labor pay rules story from "Google."

A retriever of press releases and statements from government agencies uploaded a "Googled" logo of a pineapple company used as a thumbnail for the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) pay rules article posted on state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA), Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Tuesday.

"Ang sabi po sa 'kin ng retriever, meron kaming natanggap na PR (press release) sa DOLE at 'yung PR na 'yun ang ia-upload sa website at maglalagay sila ng logo," Andanar told lawmakers during the hearing of the House appropriations committee on the Presidential Communications Operations Office's (PCOO) proposed budget for 2018.

Andanar also told congressmen that the PNA staff member did not know what the DOLE's logo looked like.

"Tinanong ko kung saan kinuha ang image, Ginoogle daw nya. Nakita 'yung Dole (logo) na may pinya at 'yon ang in-upload. Tinanong ko kung alam ba niya kung ano ang logo ng DOLE,  hindi raw                                                                                                    niya alam kaya iba ang na-upload," the Cabinet official said.

The PNA editor who approved the article, meanwhile, did not bother to check the thumbnail used for the story, which is about the pay rules for non-working holidays of 2018.

"'Yung editor,  hindi dinobol check, Inaprubahan. Nakakahiya po ang nangyari," he said.

The PNA used a logo of pineapple company Dole instead of the actual logo of the Labor department.

The gaffe came just days after the PNA reprinted an article from the Chinese news agency Xinhua that described as "ill-founded" a 2015 arbitration ruling that favored the Philippines' claims over the South China Sea.

Andanar said that the PCOO has released a show cause order against the PNA employees in question.

He also told lawmakers that his office has created an editorial board to monitor stories published by the PNA.

The Communications secretary lamented how the once premier government news outlet has been reduced to one that is gaffe prone.

"Sa lahat ng ahensya ng gobyerno, ang Philippine News Agency ang pinakanapabayaang ahensya ng gobyerno," Andanar said.

"It was on the ground... until now, you can see 'yung mga computers namin Pentium pa, butas-butas ang kisame, and most of our employees use their own laptops," he added. —ALG/KVD, GMA News