Another Palace office told to explain phone expenses

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) is demanding justification for the excessive mobile phone expenses of the Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO) last year.

In a report released yesterday, state auditors said the PCOO headed by Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. was lax in its implementation of Office Order No. 013 series of 2011, which provides the guidelines in the issuance and use of mobile phones.

The COA report said such failure resulted in the excessive expenditures of mobile phone expenses in the amount of P116,942.

“We audited the Telephone Expenses - Mobile for the period May 29 - June 28, 2012 which disclosed that the amount of P273,628.90 was disbursed for payment of mobile telephone bills,” the audit team said.

“Of this amount, P116,942 refers to the usage of officials and employees in excess of their allocated amount as provided for in Office Order No. 013 series of 2011,” they added.

State auditors also noted that based on the office order, any amount exceeding the ceiling provided to officials and employees shall be charged against the user through salary deduction.

But further verification revealed that no salary deductions were made to refund or recoup the excess expenses, contrary to the rules.

Last month, the COA also reported that the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) spent over P1.36 million for mobile phone bills last year.

Because of Internet downloads, “share-a-load” and other expenses, the PCDSPO headed by Secretary Ramon Carandang overspent its budget by P208,989.40.

Both the PCOO and the PCDSPO are offices that operate under the Presidential Communications Group of the Office of the President.