The government’s communication office is embroiled in another controversy, this time drawing flak for supposedly trying to rewrite history about former President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Presidential Communications Office Assistant Secretary Ramon Cualoping III, however, defended that the Official Gazette was neither in the business of revising history nor biased towards any political group.
“The Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines is the repository of government documents as stated by law.
We are not in the business of revising history. We only convey what is documented in the official records,” Cualoping said.
“We continually update materials to keep them as historically accurate as possible. The Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines is devoid of any political color and affiliations,” he added.
The Official Gazette, the country’s State journal, earlier wrote a Facebook post about Marcos and his presidency to mark his 99th birth anniversary last Sunday.
In describing the former leader, the State journal said Marcos declared Martial Law “to suppress a communist insurgency and secessionism in Mindanao.” It said “Marcos stepped down from the presidency to avoid bloodshed during the uprising that came to be known as “People Power.”
The Marcos post drew negative comments from former Palace officials and several netizens for allegedly twisting Martial Law history, prompting the PCO to revise the caption a number of times.
Cualoping later offered his personal apology for the controversial social media card for Marcos.
(Genalyn D. Kabiling)