Special Assistant to the President Bong Go on Thursday admitted that he was "flattered" after learning that his face was being used as a frame for profile pictures on social media giant Facebook.

Go's face appeared on the bottom-left side of several Facebook profile pictures earlier this week after netizens decided to use his photo as a decorative border.

Netizens behind the Facebook page "Photo by SAP Bong Go" created the customized border and labelled Go's cropped face as a "the National Watermark of the Philippines."

"I was pleasantly surprised and flattered when I was informed that my selfies with world leaders during the ASEAN Summit caught FB's attention," Go told reporters.

Go had been taking selfies with world leaders in the background during President Rodrigo Duterte's trip to Vietnam for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. He also had a selfie spree with economic leaders during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit here.

Go's photo composition was consistent: his face was either on the bottom-left or bottom-right corner of the photo, while leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau figured in the background.

"I didn't expect my taking selfies with them would create such a reaction," Go said.

"I am just an ordinary employee of the government. I took selfies with world leaders because I admire them and only as remembrance of that once in a lifetime opportunity," he said.

- With a report from Pia Gutierrez and Dharel Placido, ABS-CBN News