President's website gets new domain, to go online Monday

(Updated 6 p.m.) Preparations peaked Sunday for the new website of the Office of the President, with a new domain name and a clock counting down the hours to its formal launching. Visitors logging on to the Office of the President website, www.op.gov.ph., were redirected to a new domain name, www.president.gov.ph. The redirected website features a clock counting down the hours to the launching. As of 3 p.m., the countdown read 21 more hours before launch, indicating the new website will be activated at noon of Monday. On the other hand, the government portal, www.gov.ph, was offline as of 3 p.m. Sunday. President Benigno Aquino III has yet to make his presence felt online since assuming the presidency last June 30. Since July 26, the Office of the President website as well as the government portal would redirect to the site of the Official Gazette. Herminio Coloma, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) secretary, said the old website of the Office of the President, www.op.gov.ph, was deactivated following the change in administration. Coloma said Aquino’s website will feature the President’s official activities, film clips, policies, and links to government’s social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and clips from the video-sharing facility YouTube. – KBK, GMANews.TV