SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian has raised concerns about the Presidential Communications Office’s (PCO) training building in Bukidnon, an ongoing infrastructure project that the agency’s current leadership acknowledges falls outside its core mandate.
Gatchalian cited the Commission on Audit’s (COA) 2024 report on the PCO, which revealed that the agency contracted the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2019 for the construction of the Government Communication Academy in Bukidnon (Phase II) worth P45.7 million. COA reports from 2020 to 2023 also listed a similar project with a different amount of P79 million.
The senator questioned the need for the PCO to have a communications office in Bukidnon. In response, PCO Secretary Dave Gomez stated that he agrees with Gatchalian’s concerns, adding that the previous administration should not have engaged in a public works project outside the agency’s core responsibility.
The PCO has stated that the project, initiated under the Duterte administration, was originally intended as a training center for communication offices under Malacañang and its attached agencies. With P124 million already spent and the project 90% complete, Gatchalian expressed concern that it could become a “white elephant” if not finished. The PCO is currently planning to donate the facility to the Northern Bukidnon State College upon completion.
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