PCSO bares spike in ad spending during 2010 polls

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office's (PCSO) on Monday revealed that it had released a whopping P1.1 billion in public relations (PR) funds during the 2010 elections. During Monday's Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the alleged anomalies in the PCSO, PCSO board member Atty. Aleta Tolentino said that the charity fund spent P7.2 billion PR funds from 2005 to 2010. Aleta said that the PCSO spent P1.1 billion from January to June 2010 and just P115 million from August to December on the same year. She said P540 million of the P7.2 billion was still unpaid. Sen. Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Senate finance committee, found the ad spending during the election period suspicious. "Why so much money is being spent for an activity which an ordinary Filipino would find unnecessary? 2010 was an election year... that also coincides with the amount spent for intelligence funds," he said, noting that only P115 million in PR funds were spent from August to December 2010. When asked whether the funds were used for anyone's personal advertisement, Tolentino said as far as she knows, the money was used for trimedia advertisements for the PCSO. "We didn't go to the individual contracts yet," she said during the hearing. Former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte, who approved the release of the PR funds, refused to comment on the matter, invoking her right against self-incrimination. Senators had also earlier found suspicious the PCSO's request of P160 million in intelligence funds before the 2010 elections. They likewise asked why Uriarte encashed P102.5 million in PCSO funds from January to June 2010, also within the election period. She refused to reveal where the funds went. Incumbent PCSO general manager Ferdinand Rojas, meanwhile, said that they have already started cutting down on their PR expenses. "(We are) in the proess of doing our advertising strategy," he said. The Senate hearing was ongoing as of posting time. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News