The Commission on Audit has flagged actor Cesar Montano for “excessive and extravagant” foreign trips when he was then the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Promotions Board chief operating officer.
Montano had a total of 14 trips within three months using some business class flights, incurring P2.277 million in expenses.
The trips lasted a total of 91 days or a fourth of the entire year, state auditors said, saying that they were considered excessive and might cause a negative impact on the agency.
Montano, along with his executive assistant and private secretary, went out of the country to take part in various events for 10 and 11 trips, respectively.
Because of this, the Tourism Promotions Board had added expenditures of P2.995 million for the purpose of assisting Montano in his overseas travels.
CoA also called the attention of Montano’s former officer in charge and deputy chief operating officer for international promotions for having traveled 16 times for 113 days.
While it was a mandate of the board to market the tourism of the country, “as an austerity measure and in consonance with Section 50 of Republic Act No. 9593, the TPB should find ways to minimize the cost and optimize the performance of duties of its officers and employees for an effective and efficient organization.”
Business class air tickets worth P594,000 were bought for Montano’s two foreign trips using the board’s funds, which according to CoA, was in violation of Section 10 of Executive Order 248 as amended by Section 7 of EO 298 requiring government officials to travel in economy class.
The state auditors called out the Tourism Promotions Board for failure to come up with guidelines or policy on who must take care of foreign-based tasks to avoid preferential biases.
The actor was also flagged for failure to approve a bids and awards committee resolution in 2017 recommending the awarding of a contract for the services of entertainers hired to perform for the second phase of the Intramuros revival project.
CoA said Montano opted a negotiated contract with a losing bidder.
In a 2017 report, CoA said the Tourism Promotions Board’s cash advances of P5.033 million remained outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2017, and that in January 2017, the agency entered into an agreement with a company to sponsor an P11.2 million concert festival in Pasay City without the approval from the board of directors.
Moreover, the agency was flagged for granting financial sponsorships of P7 million to various organizations, local government units and private corporations for events in 2017 not related with the promotion of the country’s tourism, and that it gave a P58.169-million financial sponsorship to an event of the Philippine Exhibits and Theme Parks Corp.
Montano resigned over the agency’s P80-million Buhay Carinderia culinary tourism project.