Office of the President spent P14.9B in 2017, up 534% from 2016 —COA

Maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of the Office of the President (OP) totaled P14.9 billion in 2017, up 534.24 percent, the Commission on Audit said in its annual audit report.

The MOOE of the office of President Rodrigo Duterte last year compares with P2.36 billion in 2016, according to the commission, citing figures from financial statements of the President’s office.

The bulk of funds, or P8.19 billion, went to “other MOOEs” allotted to expenses such as advertising, printing and publication, representation, transportation and delivery, rent/lease, membership dues and contributions to organizations. Other MOOEs previously amounted totaled only more than P769 million.

The OP also made donations amounting P4.78 billion in 2017, compared with only P525 million in 2016, according to COA.

Office of the President Notes to Financial Statements by GMA News Online on Scribd

Intel funds

The commission reported a 251-percent increase in the “confidential, intelligence and extraordinary expenses” of the President’s office to more than P2.5 billion compared with P715 million year-on-year.

The President’s office spent P1.28 billion on confidential items and P1.23 billion on intelligence.

In 2016, the office reported P365 million in confidential expenses and P340 million in intelligence expenses.

COA defines confidential expenses as funds related to surveillance activities intended to support the mandate of a government agency, while intelligence expenses refer to intelligence gathering activities of government security forces.

Extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses, meanwhile, was reported around P10 million year-on-year, the commission said.

Professional services

Payments covering professional services ballooned by 7,882percent, according to the COA report.

The commission said the OP paid P3.26 billion for legal, auditing, and consultancy services in 2017, compared with only P40.9 million for the same items in 2016.

More than P3 billion went to consultancy services, compared with P19 million previously.

Only travel expenses went down, with the OP spending P421 million on local and foreign trips compared with the P482 million in 2016. —VDS, GMA News