THE maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of the Office of the President dropped by a whopping 43.4 percent from P21.768 billion in 2022 to P12.312 billion, according to the 2023 Financial Statements.
Likewise, Personnel Services (PS) expenses which include the salaries, bonuses, and benefits of all OP personnel also decreased from P1.409 billion to P1.372 billion year on year.
These figures were contained in the audit report released last December 1 by the Commission on Audit covering the transactions of the OP for 2023, the first full year of President Marcos Jr. in office.
According to the breakdown of Malacañang’s spending during the year, local travel expenses went down from P10.96 million to P8.71 million but increased for foreign travel from P396.27 million in 2022 to P751.52 million for 2023.
Professional Services costs, which include legal, consultancy, and technical or skilled hires, also fell from P54.25 million to P35 million.
Likewise ending the year lower was Repairs and Maintenance which cover the OP’s transport fleet, equipment, and standing structures from P86.18 million to P34.38 million.
Representation expenses climbed from P698.77 million to P999.94 million over the same period.
“Increase in this account is due to the increase in the number of official functions, meetings, and other Presidential events during the year,” the OP explained.
Confidential expenses for the past two years remained the same at P2.25 billion while intelligence fund spending showed a slight uptick from P2.25 billion to P2.31 billion.
“Intelligence expenses is used to recognize the amount paid for expenses related to intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel, and intelligence practitioners that have a direct impact on national security,” the OP explained.
The expense item that showed the biggest drop was “Donations,” pertaining to fund releases drawn from the Socio-Civic Projects Fund (SCPF) of the OP from P15.568 billion in 2022 to P5.408 billion in 2023 or a P10.16 billion reduction.
“The significant decrease in this account is due to the lesser financial assistance granted in 2023, considering that some assistance granted in 2022 is still subject to liquidation before a new assistance may be granted,” the OP said.
A review of past releases under the SCPF showed the late President Noynoy Aquino spent P1.52 billion in his last full year in office in 2015.
In 2016, a transition year between the Aquino and Duterte administrations, donations from the SCPF amounted to P524.98 million.
Duterte, in his first full year in office in 2017, released P4.71 billion in “donations” or an increase of 797 percent.
This was followed by P3.98 billion in 2018, P4.54 billion in 2019, P8.81 billion in 2020, P7.87 billion in 2021, and P15.57 billion in 2022.
