By Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos
Another botch has put the Presidential Communications Operations Office in the spotlight again.
The PCOO erroneously referred to Norway as “Norwegia” in an official Facebook photo gallery chronicling President Duterte’s meeting with outgoing Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines Erik Førner.
Netizens quickly pointed out and took screenshots of the error. Some added the “fictional country” to their travel bucket list and accused the government of inventing geography.
Netizens also criticized the PCOO for making such mistake despite its P1.38-billion budget for 2018 which is up 4.6 percent from 2017.
The post has been redacted and can now be read as Norway.
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,” Badoy said.
Badoy defended the PCOO’s budget, saying it has the smallest budget of all government agencies.
PCOO has been criticized for its social media boo-boos. The most recent of which was the grammatical errors found in the identification cards issued to members of the press covering the events of Duterte and Malacañang.
