Office of the President, PCOO seek lower budgets for 2021
MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the President and the Presidential Communications Operations Office, the government's lead communication arm, are proposing lower budgets for next year.
President Rodrigo Duterte's office is seeking an P8.23-billion outlay for 2021, lower than the P8.25 billion proposed for this year. The PCOO and its attached agencies, meanwhile, are requesting for a total budget of P1.58 billion for next year from P1.69 billion.
Budget documents showed that the Office of the President is asking Congress for P2.25 billion each for "confidential expenses" and "intelligence expenses" for 2021. These items are under Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses, which has a proposed budget of about P6.49 billion.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque previously said the budget for the confidential expenses is necessary as it can be used to assist the families of soldiers who died in the line of duty and those who died of the coronavirus disease.
The Office of the President is also requesting nearly P1.16 billion for personnel services, which include compensation, benefits, and allowances of workers, for next year. Capital outlay, meanwhile, has a proposed budget of nearly P591 million.
The PCOO and its attached agencies are proposing a lower budget partly because of the presence of one-time expenditures in this year's budget.
The PCOO is seeking a P472.27-million budget for next year, lower than the P499.32-million outlay under the 2020 budget. The agency's finance office attributed the lower amount to congressional initiatives worth P60 million that are composed of "one-time and special projects" to be implemented within 2020.
Asked if the lower amount is relayed to the government's effort to put more funds to pandemic response, PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar replied: "It must be."
The Bureau of Broadcast Services is proposing a budget of about P405.53 million next year while the Bureau of Communication Services is requesting for P68.62 million.
The National Printing Services is requesting for P11.89 million while the News and Information Bureau and the Philippine Information Agency are proposing outlays of P133.12 million and P317.59 million, respectively.
The Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio Television Malacañang, meanwhile, is seeking a P178.78-million budget for 2021.
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