Andanar suspects saboteurs in PCOO

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar. ALBERT ALCAIN/Presidential Photo

Given the flurry of gaffes by his team, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar can’t help thinking that he’s being targeted by saboteurs at times.

Andanar admitted on Monday that the possibility of sabotage had crossed his mind following conversations with many people, including friends, after a series of blunders hit the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

The latest was the PCOO’s misidentification of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as “Sen. Winston Gatchalian” in a June 13 press release.

“But as a technocrat, I would like to think it’s really an organizational problem, and we should keep at fixing the problem and finding the right solution, a lasting solution, that should be the case,” Andanar said in a radio interview.

He said that if he would continue to think he was being sabotaged, he would go crazy and “would not fit to function.”

Murphy’s Law

Otherwise, it could be that Murphy’s Law, a popular adage that states that “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong,” has caught up with his office, he added.

The article that got Gatchalian’s first name wrong came out only two days after the PCOO wrongly identified former Representative and ex-National Security Adviser Jose Roilo Golez as “Rogelio” Golez, who died on June 11.

On June 14, the PCOO again made a mistake when it released a picture of the Norwegian ambassador’s farewell call on President Duterte and congratulating him on his service “as the representative of Norwegia,” instead of Norway.

Gatchalian reaction

Gatchalian on Monday tried to make light of PCOO’s blunder with his name.

“After everything has been said and done over the weekend, let’s look at the positive side. At least now I know what to name my child in the future—‘Winston,’” the unmarried Gatchalian joked on Twitter.

Roque has apologized to the senator for the gaffe. While Gatchalian acknowledged the apology, he said he hoped this would be the last time.

“I hope (and pray) that this error will be the final one. Thank you for the acknowledgment,” Gatchalian wrote in his post, along with a screenshot of the PCOO’s erratum.

In a text message, the senator said he appreciated the agency’s “immediate acknowledgment” of its error.

“But moving forward, PCOO should seriously review its standard operating procedures as well as the qualifications of its manpower,” Gatchalian said.

He said the Senate had not been remiss in the allocation of funds for the operation of PCOO. “They should do better from now on,” he said.

The PCOO received a budget of P1.38 billion this year.