PCO hit over ‘misleading’ infra infographics

MANILA, Philippines - The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) is again in hot water following the release of a “misleading” infographic on infrastructure spending of the government since the administration of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The infographic compares “infrastructure spending” of the administrations using the supposed percentage of country’s gross domestic product that was spent on infrastructure.

However, netizens were quick to point out the infographic is misleading as it uses different variables in the comparison: budget for the first year of the Duterte administration while average spending for the entire term of the rest.

“This is misleading. Guys, we are on different sides of the fence but please, wag naman magpakalat ng wrong information,” read one comment.

“The graph is misleading because averages were used with different number of years per value. You can improve the comparison by using year one of each administration,” another pointed out.

Despite calls to take down or update the data, the infographic in question was still at the Facebook page of the PCO as of yesterday afternoon.

The communications group, which has effectively tapped social media to directly communicate with the public, previous apologized over criticisms on some of the posts.

For instance, the Official Gazette was accused of historical revisionism over a post about Marcos during the former dictator’s birth anniversary last September.

The PCO was also called out by netizens after it released an infographic on drug prevalence in the country and erroneously cited a United Nations report on the accompanying caption.

The post was later deleted and replaced with a new set of infographic, with the office noting the concerns raised by the public.