A lawmaker has called out the Presidential Communications Office for having five undersecretaries and 12 assistant secretaries.
During Thursday’s plenary debates at the House of Representatives on PCO’s proposed 2024 budget, ACT Teachers Party List Representative France Castro questioned the necessity for this.
“Sa ganito kaliit na ahensya, mayroong Usec. na 5, Asec. na 12. Kung titingnan natin, ang sweldo ng mga ito, nasa 6 digits ‘yan... Bakit kaya ganito karami?” Castro asked.
“Ang DOH, isang malaking ahensya yan. Alam natin ang serbisyong ginagampanan niyan. Mayroon lang yang limang Asec, kung hindi ako nagkakamali,” she added.
PCO’s budget sponsor, Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo, explained that the emergence of new media platforms prompted the increase in the number of officials in the agency. She added that the PCO is responsible for communicating the policies and programs not only of the Office of the President, but also of the entire executive branch.
“Nag-streamline na nga po ang organizational structure ng PCO. Under the previous organizational structure, there were 8 undersecretaries. Streamlining na nga po ang nangyari. Sa 12 assistant secretaries. Dumami ang responsibilities ng PCO dahil dinagdagan natin ang functions ng PCO kumpara sa previous organization,” Quimbo said.
“Ang alam ko, kapag dumarami ang trabaho, ang nagtatrabaho naman ‘yung mga nasa baba, ‘yung mga empleyado. ‘Pag mga Usec., Asec., mga policy direction ang ginagawa niyan.” Castro asked further.
“It’s by type of media. Mayroon tayong assistant secretary for radio, for television, mayroon din for digital assets, for digital media, for content production, for broadcast production, mayroon din for operations, and syempre mayroon din for administration. Sa kinalaunan, dahil sa makabagong teknolohiya, kaya dumarami ang different kinds of media, kaya kinakailngan natin ng dagdag na assistant secretaries,” Quimbo explained.
“Ang mga assistant secretary natin ay pumapasyal sa iba’t ibang agency ng ating gobyerno. Kasama sa kanilang trabaho yan. Sulit na sulit ang sweldong ibinabayad ng gobyerno sa ating 12 assistant secretaries,” she added.
Castro urged PCO to “rationalize” its high-level positions. The PCO has 363 personnel. Of this number, 250 are plantilla positions, one contractual, one casual and 111 are contract of service workers. The agency has a proposed 2024 budget of P1.7 billion.
“Although magkakaiba ang sinasabing line of work, o ‘yung mga ginagampanan nitong mga ito, just the same, tingin ko dapat din tayong mag-rationalize... Kung nagra-rightsizing tayo sa baba, dapat mag-rightsizing din tayo sa mga opisyal. Kasi pansin ko sa Marcos administraton, ang daming higher level na mga posisyon na iba-iba ang ginagampanan na pwede namang gampanan siguro ‘yun ng isang Asec. ‘yung one or two or three functions. Ang teachers nga nagmu-multi tasking ‘yan,” Castro stressed.