COMMUNICATIONS Secretary Martin Andanar on Monday cried “sabotage” after the state-run Philippine News Agency allegedly encountered a “cyberattack” after the screen shots of several stories with editors’ notes that were left untouched for months made the rounds of social media.
In a radio interview, Andanar claimed that the attacks against the state-run newswire were meant to discredit him following the reforms he had implemented in the agency.
“Wala namang iba ‘di ba? Sino ba iyong ibang gustong gibain dito kung hindi ako, eventually the President, hindi ba?” Andanar told dzRH.
“Siyempre under ng PCOO itong PNA, so ang dami nating ginagawang reporma, tapos gustong pilit gibain iyong PNA. So, meron talagang gustong gibain ako.”
Andanar said the PNA encountered a cyberattack when an IP address tried to gain access to the agency’s old website, hence the publishing of quirky editor’s notes that quickly went viral on social media.
“On Friday, we saw that there was another IP address that was trying to enter the old dashboard. There’s an old website, right? The IP address was trying to get into the old dashboard,” Andanar said.
“What is the reason for a person to enter the old dashboard that isn’t being used, why did that person know about that? Because on the old dashboard, you can see the blunders of the PNA, you can trace those, right?”
Andanar said the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division would investigate the incident.
“Back in April, that was the time when the new website was activated. So that was four months ago. Now, why are you trying to open the old one? So there is a bad intention here,” he said.
Andanar said he would not be cowed by such attacks against the Palace communications arm.
“We won’t allow ourselves to be always at the receiving end, and they’re just doing things like this to us,” he said
On Friday, several screen shots of stories from the PNA with editors’ notes, many of which were left untouched for months, made rounds of social media. Some of the headlines included instructions from desk editors to certain PNA writers to reangle or rewrite stories, or add additional details for their stories.
Communications Undersecretary Jose Joel Sy Egco, who was assigned to supervise the PNA, earlier appealed for understanding for the state news wire’s recent gaffe.
“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,” Egco said.