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Official vows action vs. ‘negligence, incompetence’ in PNA


An official of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security assured the public on Friday that negligence and incompetence in the Philippine News Agency (PNA), the government's web-based news service, "will be dealt with accordingly."

Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco issued the statement after screencaps of old PNA articles with editor's notes in the titles circulated on the Internet.

"Rest assured that while we expect to experience 'birth pains' as we transform from the old to the new, the flaws in the system are effectively being addressed, both in terms of manpower and technology," he said.

"Likewise, incidents of negligence, incompetence or even sabotage, if proven, will be dealt with accordingly… Please bear with us," he added.

Egco was earlier appointed as the supervising undersecretary for PNA.


The PNA has been under fire for its series of erroneous posts in the past year.

In May, the PNA posted an erroneous news item stating that the Philippines was commended for its improved human rights situation by 95 out of 105 nations at the United Nations' Human Right Council during its universal periodic review.

In fact, more than 40 countries expressed alarm over the rise in extrajudicial killings in the country.

Also in May, the state news agency posted an article on the Marawi City conflict using a photo from the Vietnam war.  

In August, PNA became the center of public scrutiny when it posted Xinhua News Agency's commentary on South China Sea, which called the landmark The Hague ruling in favor of the Philippines as an “ill-founded award.”

A few days after, PNA used Dole Philippines’ logo instead of the Department of Labor and Employment’s in a story about pay rules.

The series of gaffes prompted Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec. Martin Andanar to create an editorial board to ensure the quality of PNA articles. —KBK, GMA News

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