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The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) again drew flak from netizens after it posted on the government's Official Gazette a photo of late President Ferdinand Marcos to commemorate his 99th birthday on September 11, with captions virtually revising history.

This was the second time in less than a week that a staff of PCO under Secretary Martin Andanar apparently blundered. The first was when the Presidential News Desk issued last Wednesday a press release stating that President Rodrigo Duterte, who was attending the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, would be seated between US President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during the gala dinner. This turned out to be false.

In the Official Gazette's photo, which was a tribute to Marcos, part of the caption stated,"In 1986, Marcos stepped down from the presidency to avoid bloodshed during the uprising that came to be known as 'People Power'."

After netizens reacted against this, the post was changed to, "In 1986, Marcos stepped down from the presidency during the uprising that came to be known as 'People Power'."

Then it was revised and included in the caption, "He was the longest-serving President of the country for almost 21 years."

Netizens said the post should also explain he was the longest serving president because he declared Martial Law.

This was further revised, stating, "He was the longest-serving President of the country for almost 21 years, declaring Martial Law in 1972 then went to exile to the United States in 1986 at the height of the People Power Revolution. He was succeeded by Corazon Aquino."

PCO Assistant Secretary Ramon Cualoping III, in a press briefing on Monday, said he is taking full responsibility.

"I would like to reiterate there has been no revision of history and there will never be. We were informed of the comments on social media late last night and we adjusted the caption immediately," he said.

"This is a learning lesson for us and we will improve accordingly based on our efforts to have a streamlined communications policy...given that, we will be more circumspect in the way we do things. We acknowledge and understand sentiments of anti-Marcos people and loyalists. As much as possible, I will be very candid about this when we took over, if you observe all our posts, it was never used for any political agenda," he explained.

The official added that 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," he said. Celerina Monte DMS