Senate President Tito Sotto and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar

MANILA - Senate President Tito Sotto on Wednesday floated the idea of reverting the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) back to the Office of the Press Secretary.

The previous Aquino administration had split the Press Secretary office into the PCOO and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO).

President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017 abolished the PCDSPO and transferred its functions to the PCOO, which is headed by Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.

In the budget hearing of the PCOO, Sotto said some senators believe "we have completely digressed already from the original intent of the creation of the Office of the Press Secretary and it is no longer in the landscape of the administration."

He said lawmakers learned that PCOO and PCDSPO were created to "accommodate some political friends of the previous administration."

"So, we’re thinking that perhaps this is the best time to study, while studying your budget, to review and study the possibility of reverting back into the Office of the Press Secretary," he told communications officials.

"We can streamline that and use your current budget, and if necessary, we can infuse more budget, for that to be more effective for the office to be more effective," he added.

Senator Ping Lacson said he and Gregorio Honasan support the plan, which may be funded under the proposed 2019 national budget.

The PCOO has repeatedly made blunders, including citing Norway as "Norwegia," issuing press IDs with grammar errors, publishing editorial notes in the headline of an online article, and using a photo of the Vietnam War for a story on last year's terror attack in Marawi.

Recently, the PCOO had to remind its staff to be mindful of social media posts after Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and her blogger-friend Drew Olivar drew flak for a lewd jingle promoting federalism.

Uson announced her resignation from PCOO in the same hearing that Sotto proposed to revert the PCOO's functions back to the Press Secretary office.

With a report from Robert Mano, ABS-CBN News