By Wilnard Bacelonia | Philippine News Agency
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO), led by acting Secretary Cesar Chavez, was lauded on Wednesday by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III for its outstanding use of its budget and implementation of various programs.
During the Senate plenary debates on the PCO’s 2025 proposed budget, Pimentel was impressed upon knowing that the retirement benefits of 146 old retirees and employees from 2002 to early 2024, as well as those of 224 early retirees of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC) were already distributed.
This was after Sen. Loren Legarda, who defended the PCO’s budget, reported that the IBC was already able to spend P425.762 million, with only P74.237 million left to be used for the payment for the remaining retirees this year.
“In short, mission accomplished. Congratulations to IBC. Humingi ng pondo, binigyan ng pondo, nagamit ang pondo: tapos and problema ng 400 beneficiaries plus their families,” Pimentel said.
FOI implementation
As the lead agency for the implementation of Executive Order No. 02-2016, as well as Memorandum Order No. 10-2016, or the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program, PCO was also asked by Pimentel how the program benefits the public.
Legarda answered that so far, the agency has recorded 239,741 e-FOI requests and 151,991 standard FOI requests filed.
“There are different types of FOI requests: statistics, data sets, research, legal documents, personal information, etc. and the top requested agencies under the e-FOI portal are the Department of Health, Philippine Statistics Authority, National Telecommunications Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Department of Education,” Legarda said, noting that the last agency had the highest number of requests.
“Lumalabas sa figures na medyo ginagamit ng taumbayan. They are availing of this mechanism,” she said.
The senators later recommended that the PCO has a feedback mechanism for the program.
Out of the Senate-approved P2.026 billion that the PCO is proposing to spend next year, the PCO proper shall spend P694.971 million; the Bureau of Communications Services, P77.071 million; the National Printing Office, P28.848 million; the News and Information Bureau, P138.305 million; the Philippine Information Agency, P418.263 million; the Presidential Broadcast Service/Bureau of Broadcast Services, P466.203 million; and the Presidential Broadcast Staff, P251.155 million.
Meanwhile, the IBC shall have a supplemental budget of P1.149 billion, and the People’s Television Network, P215.257 million.
“The budgetary levels, I find them to be reasonable. Anyway, dumaan na rin yan sa microscopic study ng ating chairwoman. Congratulations to the PCO family. We wish you all the best for next year and thank you to our chairwoman,” Pimentel said.