DURING the budget hearing of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) last Monday, Sen. Imee Marcos surprised DICT Secretary Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II, a former senator, with a simple, benign question with not-so-hidden political implications.
Marcos asked Honasan to explain the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) that his department was lending some of its facilities to the third telco, DITO Telecommunity, free of charge.
The senator wanted to know, so she asked: “What facilities were leased, and do other telcos lease or borrow for free facilities from DICT? Why is this practice undertaken?”
‘Honasan should have just
explained the details of the said transaction rather than involving the media in his reply. After all, media’s role is just to report on COA findings, which are even open to the public because they are published
on the Commission’s website.’
The question would have been an ordinary query about the department’s operations, but that DITO Telecommunity is owned by Davao City business Dennis Uy who is a close friend of President Duterte and one of the major contributors to his 2016 presidential campaign. There were even rumors that Uy increased his business holdings exponentially during the last five years of the Duterte administration, winning bids and projects in oil and mining, telecoms, logistics, energy, tourism, and other sectors. F2 Logistics Inc., with ties to Uy’s Udenna Corp., recently won the Comelec contract to deliver ballots, voting machines and election paraphernalia to voting precincts throughout the nation next year.
Honasan dodged the question and blamed the news media for subjecting government officials to “trial by publicity” by sensationalizing COA reports. Marcos said the media is not her source, but the official document itself of government auditors.
Responding for the secretary, Undersecretary Emmanuel Caintic explained that leasing the government’s facilities to telecommunication companies had been their practice even before the DICT was established. He said Digitel, PLDT and others lease their equipment to build cell site towers, and so the same accommodation was given to DITO Telecommunity.
Marcos said according to the COA’s letter to Honasan last July 21, a total of P9,781,650 in lease income from DITO’s use of the department’s assets “were not recorded in the books of accounts due to lack of coordination” between concerned bureaus. The COA was just saying that these payments from July to November 2020 should be recorded and validated by the department, if they were received at all.
Honasan should have just explained the details of the said transaction rather than involving the media in his reply. After all, media’s role is just to report on COA findings, which are even open to the public because they are published on the Commission’s website.
