PIA officers, employees up in arms over agency head’s reappointment

Officers and employees of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) are up in arms with the recent reappointment of PIA Director-General Ramon I. Cualoping III and asked him to step down alleging abuse of power and unlawful practices.

In a press statement, the PIA officers and employees said they have served under previous director-generals and have been flexible to their individual and distinct leadership styles in carrying out the agency’s mandate.

“But we draw the line when we see abuse of power and authority and unlawful practices that breed corruption,” the statement read.

The PIA officers and employees sent a petition against the reappointment of Cualoping to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. through Secretary Maria Zenaida Angping, chief of the Presidential Management Staff, intending to have the matter treated internally and with due process by addressing it to the appropriate departments.

They cited in the petition that the erratic mood and sullen frame of mind of Mr. Cualoping where he prods and nudges PIA central and regional offices to give in and provide for “all his caprices and whims for personal interests and stake do not only cause divisions in the agency but promotes dispiritedness, dejection and demoralization.”

They claimed in the petition that in his regular regional visits and provincial sorties, even at the height of the pandemic, “resources of regional offices were exploited as he would require the regions to provide for extravagant and irregular expenditures for hotel accommodations, vehicle rentals, and even drinks, liquor, cigarettes and freebies.”

“His schedules in the regional offices were masked with supposedly official agendas like meeting of staff, among others, just to appear official business but in reality, they were all concealment of his personal tours and trips festooned with splurges, extravagant and wasteful expenditures for personal gains and agenda,” the petitioners stated.

They also claimed that Cualoping has no concrete accomplishments contributed to the PIA.

“His banner #ExplainExplainExplain is only a hashtag provided for communication channels and platforms which are no stranger and were all being used by PIA since time immemorial,” they pointed out.

They also clarified that the agency’s Five-Year Roadmap and agency restructuring plans – the agency strategic plan — which Cualoping claimed were his initiatives, were actually the brainpowers of regional and division heads conceived more than seven years ago, long before the forthcoming of the director-general to the agency.

“This is just one of the lies and credit-grabbing tendencies of Mr. Cualoping,” they stressed.

They said the PIA needs a leader who has a sincere and deep concern for the agency as the PIA is currently being challenged with a Php52-million disallowance as a result of a special audit conducted by the Commission on Audit (COA). The 16 regional offices are awaiting the final recommendation as a result of the parallel fraud audit conducted in 2019.

“Despite that, Mr. Cualoping has done nothing concrete and significant steps to fix the fiscal and administrative management of the agency. He has done nothing, too, top help and assist employees who were just collateral damage or casualty to said disallowances,” they furthered.

This is on top of the agency being challenged by a Php206-million discrepancies in financial books for Plant Property and Equipment (PPE).

Taking note of this, concerned regional and division heads initiated and invited COAC for a four-day seminar to educate and train them for the implementation of book reconciliation and cleansing to address the Php206-million financial book discrepancies.

“Mr. Cualoping, though fully aware, instead of sitting down and presiding the seminar and help or direct or lead the implementation of it, did not even bother to show up during the seminar nor even ask for the status of the book reconciliation,” they lamented, adding that “the endeavor would not only fix the long-time problem but also pave the way for a better refleeting program and a better position for fund/budget request/approval from DBM.”

“Relative to the cited challenges and agency problems, the PIA needs a leader who will steer and bring the agency to a better shape rather than adding up as another problem and eventually be a bad image for the Marcos Administration,” the said.

They also stated that PIA is being put to bad light in social media and in his inter-agency and LGU engagements as the director-general is allegedly “soliciting sponsorship from LGUs for accommodations and meals for quite a number of people, including non-PIA employees, even if there are no LGU-related activities in the area”, a practice they said affects the stature of PIA.

They cited an instance where the director-general failed to settle the bills in a hotel he frequently stays and instead instructed the PIA regional office to pay the expenses without following RA 9184 or the prescribed government procurement process.

They also said that without considering the needs of PIA, the director-general has allegedly “attempted to enter into deals with other government entities that are clearly disadvantageous to the agency”.

Citing President Marcos’s inaugural speech calling “to repair a house divided; to make it whole and to stand strong again in the Bayanihan way”, the PIA concerned PIA employees said they need a leader who will not divide but repair and rebuild a stronger and better PIA which will continue to provide Filipinos with accurate, timely and relevant information that will contribute to national progress and a better quality of life for all Filipinos.

“And that leader, we believe, is not Mr. Ramon L. Cualoping III,” they stressed. ‘

The PIA officers and employees said they understand the risk of submitting the petition to the president should he push through with the director-general’s reappointment as part of his Cabinet.

“However, for the love of our country and this agency, it is with all humility that we appeal and pray for President Marcos to reconsider the aforementioned information and the real situation at PIA for the past two years before he gives his final decision,” the appealed.

“We will not stake our names, career positions and reputations by making false allegations against a government official who has always brandished his strong ties with the powers that be. We will not close our eyes to the misuse of government resources and brazen display of power. These are our non-negotiables,” the petition, signed by 22 PIA officers and employees, stated.