PCSO chief questioned over P554k 'reputation management' fee

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada on Thursday grilled Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chair Margarita Juico for supposedly paying more than half a million for so-called "reputation management." At the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the alleged anomalies in the PCSO, Estrada exhibited a document which showed that PCSO had paid EON Stakeholders Firm P554,400 for three month's worth of "public affairs and reputation management." "Sa pagkakaalam ko itong reputation management in layman's term ito yung pagpapaganda ng imahe ng PCSO, imahe ng chairman, imahe ng general manager," he said. "Sa aking paningin mukhang di yata tama... nagbabayad ang gobyerno, PCSO for that matter, para lang pagandanhin ang imahe ng mga opisyal ng PCSO (I don't think this is right. The government, or rather the PCSO, is paying just to make the images of PCSO officials better)," he added. Juico, however, said that she only learned about the contract after PCSO general manager Ferdinand Rojas (also concurrent PCSO PR manager) signed it. She likewise said that she did not give Rojas any authority to make the deal. "I have no knowledge. I have to check," she said during the same hearing. She noted, however, that the funding was probably used for PR projects for the PCSO and not the agency's specific officials. Juico said Rojas is currently in Hong Kong and will be back on Sunday. She said the PCSO general manager can answer Estrada's questions in the next hearing on Monday. According to the Commission on Audit, the PCSO spent P2.3 billion in advertising funds from 2001 to 2005; P1 billion in 2006; P686 million in 2007; P968 million in 2008; P1.6 billion in 200; and P1.75 billion in 2010. — RSJ, GMA News