The 375 鈥渃ontract of service鈥� (COS) personnel hired by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) in 2020 to the tune of P70.6 million were 鈥渟ocial media specialists鈥� and not online trolls, according to PCOO Undersecretary Kris Ablan.
Ablan gave this explanation after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged PCOO鈥檚 鈥渦nrestricted鈥� and unjustified hiring of contractuals at a number more than twice the size of its regular staff of 144 employees.
The 375 contractuals accounted for 71.7 percent of the PCOO鈥檚 total workforce, with 70 directly reporting to the office of its chief, Secretary Martin Andanar.
The COA said the necessity of hiring that many extra workers could not be established due to the 鈥渁bsence of the agency鈥檚 written policy guidelines on availing the services of COS (contract of service) personnel, justification for the need to hire [them] and incomplete documentation of disbursement vouchers.鈥�
鈥淭he unrestricted/massive hiring of COS personnel cost the PCOO a total of P 70,688,830.39 for their salaries during the year, resulting in the depletion of government funds which could have been used for other programs and projects of the government,鈥� the COA said in its 2020 audit report on the Palace media arm.
鈥楬ighly technical skills鈥�
In a TV interview, Ablan said the COS employees who were hired had 鈥渉ighly technical skills鈥� and included social media specialists, specifically graphic artists who design and upload infographics that help explain to the public the national ID program, COVID-19 vaccines and the government鈥檚 pandemic response.
Ablan stressed that these 鈥渟ocial media specialists do not equate to trolls,鈥� adding that the agency was taking steps to regularize some of the COS workers.
Unbelievable excuse
But Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite was not buying Ablan鈥檚 explanation.
鈥淭he PCOO鈥檚 excuse that the social media specialists were graphic artists that upload infographics is just unbelievable. Because if you check their Facebook page, they have a few infographics. In my opinion, it would not need dozens of so-called specialists to accomplish this task,鈥� Gaite said on Friday.
The lawmaker, who once headed the government workers鈥� union Courage, said Ablan was still unable to explain COA鈥檚 findings about the accomplishment reports submitted by the COS employees being 鈥減ro forma,鈥� with only the names and time covered being changed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really suspicious,鈥� Gaite said. 鈥淲hy can鈥檛 they give a proper and detailed accomplishment report? Are they hiding some tasks that these 鈥榮pecialists鈥� performed? We need to know the truth, as this is not the first time that the Duterte administration has been flagged for unscrupulous online operations, ranging from inauthentic online behavior in Facebook to cyberattacks against independent media and human rights organizations.鈥�
He reiterated his call for a congressional inquiry into the PCOO鈥檚 use of its funds, citing reports that recent cyberattacks on the websites of so-called alternative media agencies and a human rights group had been traced to government networks.
The 375 COS personnel cited by the COA were described as 鈥渟ervice providers鈥� in their individual contracts with the PCOO.
Their accomplishment reports, instead of listing actual tasks performed for a specific period, instead contained general statements and accomplishments that were 鈥渞epetitively reported every month,鈥� the state auditing agency noted.
The PCOO earlier explained that it needed to hire COS workers 鈥渋n order to augment the lack of manpower of the agency.鈥�
Earlier booboos
It was not the first time the PCOO came under heavy scrutiny.
Last year, the House appropriations committee suspended its deliberations on its proposed 2021 budget after another ranking PCOO official, Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy, 鈥淩ed-tagged,鈥� or linked several lawmakers to the communist insurgency without offering proof.
Legislators then also brought up a host of issues against the agency, including poor working conditions of its staff and grievous errors in their published materials.
The PCOO had been called out for several booboos, including a Facebook post in 2018 about President Duterte conferring honors on outgoing Norwegian Ambassador Erik Forner, who was described as the 鈥渞epresentative of Norwegia.鈥� In 2017, the Philippine 黑料社 Agency (PNA)鈥攁 unit under the PCOO鈥攗sed an opinion piece from Xinhua, China鈥檚 state news agency, which dismissed as 鈥渋ll-founded鈥� the historic 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling that favored the Philippines and found no legal basis for China鈥檚 sweeping 鈥渘ine-dash line鈥� claim in the South China Sea.
That same year, the PNA website also used the logo of Dole pineapple company for a story involving the Department of Labor and Employment.