Flag flap on Palace website

Another “messaging” gaffe involving an error in the way the Philippine flag is displayed has discomposed the Aquino administration.

For a few minutes last Thursday, the flag was posted on President Benigno Aquino III’s www.president.gov.ph website with the red field, instead of blue, on top.

Such a display of the flag would indicate that the Philippines is at war.

Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma yesterday took responsibility for the mistake that he said lasted only “minutes.”

He said the website handler realized the mistake almost immediately after he posted it, removed the flag “momentarily,” and immediately reported it.

“It was an honest mistake… There was no willful intent (to put the government in a bad light),” Coloma said.

He said the website handler had already apologized.

However, Coloma said he was taking the blame for the error.

“I’m seeking for understanding from you,” Coloma told reporters. He said he was accepting responsibility “because I don’t want the employee to be affected too much.”

Coloma said those in charge of the President’s website are adopting “tighter editing measures” to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

The website error happened almost on the eve of the two-week nationwide observance of Flag Day in the run-up to Independence Day on June 12.

The public is encouraged to display the national tri-color from May 28 to June 12.

Malacañang suffered another flag-related gaffe early on in the Aquino administration. In September 2010, during a meeting between US and Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Philippine flag was displayed, alongside those of other Asean member-countries, with the red field on top.

A photograph of the President with US President Barack Obama during the meeting was marred by the sight of the Philippine flag wrongly displayed behind Mr. Aquino.

The US Embassy in Manila apologized for the mistake, which the government readily accepted.

The website error also happened after President Aquino himself lamented that the main weakness of his administration was “messaging,” in an obvious reference to the efforts of his communications team.

Mr. Aquino’s communications group is led by three Cabinet-ranked secretaries—presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, Communications Development Secretary Ricky Carandang and Coloma.