Revisions on data regarding Martial Law posted on the Malacañang website are unlikely, a communications official said.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Kristian Ablan said “whatever we have will stay,” when asked in a radio interview about the possibility of revising history written on the government website.
“I don’t think so. Again I say that in the Office of the President and the PCOO we have very strong institutions,” Ablan, in the radio interview, said.
The Presidential Museum and Library (PML) administration earlier said the official website of Malacañang, which also stores repositories of the PML, was temporarily inaccessible due to updates in its content.
The PML released this statement following concerns that historical records, including those of the Martial Law regime, have been deleted from its website.
“Please be informed that, contrary to reports that it has been deleted, the website malacanang.gov.ph is merely suspended following measures to update the content therein and improve its security features,” the PML said on its official Facebook page.
The museum administration also assured that all historical records are intact.
“Rest assured that the contents of the said website have not been compromised and will be made available to the public at the soonest possible time. Thank you,” it added.
The PML is in charge of preserving, managing, and promoting the history and heritage of the Philippine presidency.
Updates on the website came a few days after the May 9 elections and saw presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. leading the presidential race by a large margin with more than 31 million votes over Vice President Leni Robredo, with more than 14 million votes.
Marcos is the son and namesake of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Former Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Undersecretary Manolo Quezon III was the first to notice that the website had gone down.
“malacanang.gov.ph where the repositories of the Presidential Museum and Library were, is gone,” Quezon said in a tweet.
However, he said the contents of the website were already archived before June 30, 2016.
“To be clear: deleting http://malacanang.gov.ph could be as simple as someone wanting the online real estate for some other government purpose, or lack of interest in a museum site. Content there was archived before June 30, 2016, in site for public access/use so beyond gov’t reach,” he said.