PHILIPPINES – JUNE 29, 2011 – Current Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) head Margarita Juico exposed alleged irregularities on the ad spending of her predecessors. The anomalous findings, which apparently include a faux “charity agency” and a bloated PhP 1.7B 2010 advertising budget, is the latest addition to a string of scandals that have been attached to government promotions in recent years.
In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Juico insisted that former board members received as much as 40% to 50% of the total placement amount in kickbacks from the former administration’s favored network stations and media outfits. Members of the board also allegedly got their hands on the money by being part of the charity agency which was set up to provide and execute creative services.
Juico’s report on PCSO’s 2010 overspending also seemed to jive with the Commission on Audit’s (COA) 2008 findings, where the agency chided PCSO for spending PhP 529.45M on advertising and promotion that year. COA also noted that the PCSO placed excessive advertisements in media, which sometimes amounted to over 20 spots per day.
Solons also seemed to be on the offensive, as Bayan Muna Representative Nery Colmenares expressed belief that government corporate lawyers must face probe for giving the PCSO the go signal to pay movie director Carlo J. Caparas over P1.2 billion for the production of a television drama series.
As expected, the expose has birthed a public word war between Juico and ex-PCSO Chief Manoling Morato, with the latter deeming the claims rubbish. "She’s lying. I challenge her to take her allegations to court," Morato repeatedly said in two separate interviews from ABS-CBN and ANC. He also challenged Juico to name the charity agency, and the members who supposedly benefitted from its dealings.
Meanwhile, advertising associations and industry players have so far remained mum on the subject. The PCSO advertising scandal is just one of the government advertising campaigns that have raised eyebrows since last year.
