MALACAÑANG on Thursday tasked the Commission on Audit to file cases against erring government officials before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said it was CoA that published on its website details of the controversial P60-million advertising contract between the Department of Tourism and the government-owned PTV 4 in which commercials would be placed in a show “Kilos Pronto” produced and hosted by the brothers of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, Ben and Erwin Tulfo.
The CoA report also claimed that PhilHealth officer-in-charge Celestina Ma. Jude de la Serna made several travels abroad that cost the government P627,293.04 in just one year despite the agency’s net loss of P8.92 billion, based on its 2017 unaudited financial statement posted online.
CoA also said it found irregularities in the way the state-run People’s Television Network Inc. handled its 2017 budget.
In its 2017 audit report, CoA said almost P10.5 million received by PTNI officials and employees as Economic Relief Allowance and incentive for their coverage of the Southeast Asian Games was disbursed without approval from the Office of the President, in violation of the law.
of P1.3 million for a supposedly non-existent parking lot extension.
In a press briefing, Roque said the Ombudsman should look into alleged graft and corrupt practices so cases can be filed against the government officials.
“That’s why the CoA exists. That’s why the Ombudsman exists,” he said.
He said it is not the President’s duty to conduct an investigation.
“If they have enough evidence, they should press charges. Sometimes the CoA report is not enough and will not stand in court. So the Ombudsman has to investigate and has to do its own case buildup,” he said.
“You know the President when it comes to corruption. He will fire [the person] if found guilty,” he said.
The President, Roque said, has repeatedly warned public officials who are suspected of committing unlawful acts or abusing their power.
PhilHealth on Thursday defended De la Serna’s expenses.
“They are aboveboard because we believe we have legal bases and we shall respond to the audit observation,” Israel Francis Pargas, PhilHealth vice president for Corporate Affairs Group and spokesman, said in an interview.
Pargas said that the questioned travel expenses were allowed by the PhilHealth board as well as the Governance Commission for GOCCs.
He said De la Serna’s trips were supported by documents such as travel authority and certifications signed by the appropriate offices.
He said reports sayig that Dela Serna stays in a hotel were wrong, and that she stays in an apartment whenever she is in Manila.
He said Dela Serna’s permanent residence was in Bohol before her appointment as OIC on April 10, 2017.
Dela Serna is preparing to submit to CoA all the answers as soon as possible, Pargas said.
In an interview with the ANC news channel, Teo’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio said the Tourism secretary didn’t know that the show Kilos Pronto was connected with her brothers Ben and Erwin Tulfo.
“At that time, it was part of the package. She did not know that ‘Kilos Pronto’ was with her brothers. It was thrown to a committee and I don’t know what happened with the committee but eventually it was vetted,” he told ANC.
“If there were placements in ‘Kilos Pronto,’ it was not because they were Tulfos but because it would be advantageous to the ad campaign of DOT,” Topacio added.
Topacio also brought a document showing the proposed project cost was P272 million. Of this, P139 million should have gone to the PTV4 newscast, P63 million to an eco-tourism program, and P69 million to the Tulfos’ news magazine show.
The actual cost was trimmed to P120 million, he said, but did not say how much went to the Tulfos’ show.
The lawyer said it is premature to call for the resignation of Teo because even the CoA is still trying to get to the bottom of the issue and whether all the P60 million actually went to the Tulfos’ program.
Teo earlier said there is no conflict of interest when government funds went to a blocktimer program of her brothers.
“The contract is between the DoT and PTV, because the government wants to help out the state-owned station. That was the mandate of the President,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Public Attorney’s Office on Thursday denied any anomaly in the construction of PAO’s new central office building in Quezon City.
PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said that there is no irregularity in the disposition of the P12-million appropriation for the engineering design of the building despite an audit report by the CoA that questioned the initial release of P4.8 million for this phase of the project.
“That [report] is not a red flag. CoA only asked why there was a need for the partial payment already, and we will explain that this plan is not yet final,” Acosta said, in a press conference in Manila.
