Carandang’s office spends P1.36 M in cell phone charges

MANILA, Philippines - Because of Internet downloads, pasa load and other expenses, the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) spent over P1.36 million in mobile phone charges last year.

The Commission on Audit (COA) said such expenditure exceeded the agency’s postpaid and prepaid cellular phone service allocation by more than P200,000.

State auditors, in a report released yesterday, said the PCDSPO headed by Secretary Ramon Carandang 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 that 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.

“As of Nov. 30, 2012, PCDSPO paid a total amount of P1,361,491.40 as its mobile expenses covering the period Nov. 16, 2011 to Nov. 15, 2012 or a period of 13 months,” the COA report said.

“We compared the actual amount paid versus the postpaid and prepaid plan allocation and we observed there was an over-expenditure of P208,989.40,” state auditors noted.

Apart from Internet downloads and share-a-load or pasa load expenses, the audit team blamed the excessive spending on calls and text messages in excess of monthly allocations, NDD calls, and international calls and text messages.

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

“We recognized the grant of communication allowances as part and parcel of the necessary expenditures of the agency to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations, however, the same should be enjoyed within the parameters of the law and budget limitation,” the audit team stressed.

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 do not exceed the budget allocation for it.