Palace justifies phone bills of communications office

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday justified the P1.36 million spent by the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO)  in mobile phone charges last year.

“If you look at the figures, that’s P1.3 million. Let us please look at the COA (Commission on Audit) observation which, by the way, was also included in the report that the office, that the PCDSPO, has sufficiently addressed (questions),” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Valte said the COA only asked about the policy of the PCDSPO in assigning and use of cellular phones.

It was stated in the COA report that the PCDSPO was able to submit the documents and that it saw the policies for internal controls, Valte said.

“If you notice, what we’re talking about here is 24 mobile phone subscriptions in an office of roughly around 75 people. So if you divide the amount, the result will be P4,500 per month in expenses per person,” she said.

Since the PCDSPO was a communications office, Valte said “it’s intended to be heavy” on the use of mobile phones and the Internet, both locally and internationally, due to foreign trips.

“I think in this particular issue, what is worthy to note is that there is no notice of disallowance. It’s stated in the report. We know that if COA issues notice of disallowance, it’s that the spending is irregular,” she pointed out.

The COA said Internet downloads, “pasa” or sharing load with other cell phone users and other expenses made the PCDSPO under Secretary Ricky Carandang exceed the agency’s postpaid and prepaid cellular phone service allocation by more than P200,000.

State auditors noted the PCDSPO had no existing policy guidelines on the issuance and use of postpaid and prepaid mobile phone card allowances in 2012, indicating lapses on the internal control that might lead to unnecessary expenses.

Records showed the agency had subscription for 34 postpaid mobile phones with a total monthly plan of P85,424 issued to various officials and personnel, along with eight prepaid cards with a total monthly allocation of P3,200 for several drivers.

Citing COA Circular No. 2012-003 dated Oct. 29, 2012, state auditors defined unnecessary expenditures as those that were “not essential or that which could be dispensed with without loss or damage to property.”

In response to COA’s findings, state auditors said the PCDSPO management submitted its guidelines on the provision of communication services last February to comply with the audit team’s recommendation to establish policy guidelines on the issuance, utilization and limitations of postpaid and prepaid mobile card allowances to ensure that the actual expenditures would not exceed the budget allocation for it.