THE Office of the President (OP) spent P15.702 billion in 2021, the last full year of President Duterte.
According to the OP’s financial statements, the office incurred P14.279 billion under maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE); P1.312 billion under personnel services or the salaries, allowances, and benefits of officials and employees; and P110.18 million for non-cash expenses pertaining to the depreciation cost of infrastructure, machinery, motor vehicles, and other assets.
While the 2021 expenditure was P116 million lower than the 2020 total operating expenses of P15.818 billion, the OP’s Statement of Financial Performance showed it posted a deficit of P5.284 billion at year end compared to the 2020 surplus of P5.795 billion.
The deficit was caused by a lower share from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), which dropped to P3 billion in 2021 from P14.5 billion in 2020. The Commission on Audit said the Pagcor collections goes to the President’s Socio-Civic Projects Fund (SCPF).
Among the major expenses under the MOOE during the year were P8.566 billion in donations; P4.513 billion in confidential, intelligence and extraordinary expenses; and P679.3 million in representation expenses.
Breakdown in the audit report showed the OP’s confidential expenses slightly dropped year on year from P2.386 billion in 2020 to P2.25 billion in 2021. Confidential expenses refer to the amount spent on “surveillance activities in civilian government agencies that are mandated to support the operations of the Office of the President.”
On the other hand, intelligence expenses stayed at P2.25 billion two years in a row. These represent the cost of “intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel” as well as intelligence practitioners in relation to national security concerns.
The P8.566 billion donations “pertains to the financial assistance under the Socio-Civic Project Funds of the OP.”
