PCOO exec seen drinking during Senate hearing

MANILA, Philippines — Senators censured a Presidential Communications Operations Office official after he was caught on camera allegedly drinking liquor on Monday night while the Senate was deliberating on the PCOO’s proposed budget for 2022.

Aside from censuring Dominique Tajon, general manager of the APO Printing Office, a PCOO-attached agency, the senators also reset the deliberation of the proposed P1.64-billion PCOO budget for 2022 to last night.

The senators instructed Tajon and PCOO chief Secretary Martin Andanar to be physically present when the Senate deliberates on their agency’s budget.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who was presiding over the plenary debates, said they also saw “some inappropriate pictures of individuals not clothed properly” as Tajon fiddled with his camera.

As he called on the PCOO team to “conduct proper virtual etiquette,” Gatchalian noted that Tajon “disappeared… I think he’s guilty of it.”

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon was interpellating Sen. Richard Gordon, who sponsored the PCOO’s proposed budget, when Gatchalian manifested to call Tajon’s attention.

“We are getting distracted by (you) moving or by flipping your camera around,” Gatchalian said.

Drilon said he was disturbed that Tajon was “imbibing alcoholic drinks” while attending the Senate’s budget hearing online. He moved to censure Tajon and other PCOO officials. Drilon’s motion was approved with no objections.

Gatchalian reminded “all resource persons to treat this (hybrid budget hearing) just like any other physical hearing. This is a formal budget hearing.”

He told PCOO officials that even if they are at home, they should still don proper attire and practice proper decorum “and most of all, don’t move around your camera because we can all see you.”

Drilon expressed shock at Tajon’s actions, adding that it was the first time in his 24 years serving in the chamber to “encounter a government official having the audacity to drink alcohol during a Senate session.”

“This is a total disrespect for the Senate. We are in session. They are inside the session hall virtually and they are taking an alcoholic drink during the session of the Senate? This is reprehensible, Mr. Chairman,” Drilon emphasized.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also called out PCOO officials for not being physically present during the hearing. He noted that Education Secretary Leonor Briones, at 81 and with an aching back, physically attended her agency’s budget hearing for several hours.

Zubiri directed the officials to attend the budget hearing in person, “like we do, every day until 2 a.m., and we come back at 10 a.m.”

Failure to attend means “we’ll just zero their budget,” Zubiri said.