Philippine News Agency employees sourced the logo of the Department of Labor and Employment from Google when it published a story that erroneously carried the logo of the Dole food company.

During the budget hearing of his agency on Tuesday, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the wrong logo was sourced from Google and was approved by the editor without double checking.

The PNA last Friday used the logo of Dole Food Co. to accompany a government press release on the labor department's pay rules for the 2018 holidays.

• READ: Going bananas? Gov't news agency runs wrong DOLE logo in story

The error, which drew flak online, was later on corrected. The PNA issued an apology, calling it "a careless act" of its staff.

Andanar said employees involved in the blunder will undergo retraining aside from facing the maximum penalties.

• READ: Sabotage? Gov't to look into errors of state-run news agency

He also conceded that the incident was an embarrassment even as he noted that the state-run news agency now has the attention and readership it did not have before.

The 2 employees are now the subject of a show cause order along with another employee who is allegedly behind the reposting of a Xinhua News Agency opinion piece that dubbed as "ill-founded" an arbitral ruling that favored Manila's claim to the South China Sea.

• READ: 3 PNA employees get show cause orders over blunder

Other employees behind the erroneous posts have resigned.

For 2018, the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) is seeking a budget of P1.37 billion, a bit lower by 1.63 percent compared to the 2017 budget.