THE petition wanting to see Philippine Information Agency (PIA) director-general Ramon Cualoping fired over “erratic moods and sullen min” should be enough reason for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to look into other complaints embarking on fund misuse by other present and previous agency officials.
For one, the PIA officials have been using limited government funds to defray the cost of caprices for the longest time, not to mention on the P206-million discrepancies that the Commission on Audit (COA) has found in PIA’s Plant Property Equipment and that of the missing P395,481.78 from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (PDEA-ICAD) trust fund.
His name was also dragged in the alleged misuse of P2,024,328.25 while serving as Presidential Communications and Operations Office Assistant Secretary and chief brand instigator.
A criminal case arising from the P2.9 million contract for the 2018 Rehabinasyon project also formed part of his “prolific” portfolio. Wow! That’s a lot of money! Aside from Cualoping, COA previously called out a former PIA deputy director-general (who now works at the Senate as chief of staff of a legislator), who himself incurred cash advances which the state auditor has disallowed.
Interestingly, the former PIA deputy director general has yet to return the money amounting to millions too. On top of the P206-million discrepancy, COA also flagged P52-million in allowances and cash advances by the PIA officials.
Employees also claimed that during the stint of the former deputy director-general, he would charge hotel accommodation for his personal out-of-town trips to the PIA, a claim that was also of a previous COA report.
Interestingly, the fund mess that was left behind by the former PIA deputy director-general is no match to what Cualoping is facing.
Nonetheless, people like these two should be made accountable especially at a time when every peso is of importance. Whether or not these two would be made accountable remains mystery.
After all, they’re both “sacred cows.”
