It was a clear error, but Malacañang’s communications office is not taking the criticisms sitting down.
Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy of the Presidential Communications Operations Office attributed the president’s social media team’s error of calling the country of Norway as “Norwegia” to having the “smallest budget in (the) government.”
This was revealed in a Facebook comment thread where Badoy replied to posts criticizing the PCOO for committing what it calls a “typographical” error despite being allocated P1.38 billion for 2018.
But according to Lorraine Badoy, maliit lang daw kasi ang budget nila. I have no idea how that justifies Norwegia. pic.twitter.com/oJJpu6zSiW
— Kristine Nicole (@kehgandahan) June 14, 2018
“So you have no idea how much is really for PCOO in that P1.3 billion, right? And you don’t know too that PCOO is the department that has the smallest budget in government right?” Badoy said in a Facebook comment.
“How much exactly do you think is the budget of the PCOO?” Badoy asked another critical commenter in another post.
Facebook user Eric Cabahug took note of PCOO’s budget and wrote that the office has no funds “to hire someone who knows that the country of Norwegians is called Norway and not Norwegia.”
PCOO's total budget in 2018 stands at P1.38 billion, a 4.4% increase from P1.32 billion in 2017. And yet it apparently…
Posted by Eric Cabahug on Thursday, June 14, 2018
Reports indicate that the presidential communications arm received P1.38 billion for the year. It was a 4.4 percent increase from their 2017 budget of P1.32 billion.
The P1.38 billion is further broken down into separate agencies under its jurisdiction:
- Radio Television Malacañang
- News and Information Bureau
- National Printing Office
- Bureau of Communications Services
- Bureau of Broadcast Services
- Philippine Information Agency
For PCOO alone, P252,496,000 or P252.5 million was allocated under the General Appropriations Act for the year.
Budget of other government offices
According to the Department of Budget and Management, the top ten government agencies who have received generous funds for 2018 are the following:
- Department of Education (including state universities and colleges, CHED, TESDA) — P672.4 billion
- Department of Public Works and Highways — P637.9 billion
- Department of the Interior and Local Government — P170.8 billion
- Department of Health (including Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) — P167.9 billion
- Department of National Defense — P149.7 billion
- Department of Social Welfare and Development — P141.8 billion
- Department of Transportation — P66.3 billion
- Department of Agriculture — P53.5 billion
- Department of Environment and Natural Resources — P24.9 billion
While PCOO does not appear on the list, a look at the Department of Budget and Management’s breakdown following the General Appropriations Act reveals it is not the lowest paid office in the government.
Other government offices who have received a lower budget than PCOO in 2018 are the following:
- Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission — P230,772,000
- National Commission for Culture and the Arts Proper — P230,460,000
- National Anti-Poverty Commission — P223,677,000
- Philippine Racing Commission — P191,602,000
- Philippine Sports Commission — P199,493,000
- Mindanao Development Authority — P173,537,000
- Philippine Commission for the Urban Poor — P168,148,000
- Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council — P164,882,000
- National Youth Commission — P164,567,000
- Dangerous Drugs Board — P150,927,000
- Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Operations — P150,757,000
- Games and Amusement Board — P149,291,000
- Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority — P129,175,000
- Film Development Council of the Philippines — P119,242,000
- Philippine Commission on Women — P111,815,000
- Commission on the Filipino Language — P107,530,000
- Commission on Filipino Overseas — P82,429,000
- Presidential Legislative Liasion Office — P81,247,000
- Anti-Money Laundering Council — P75,057,000
- Optical Media Board — P66,100,000
- Movie and Television Review and Classification Board — P38,732,000
