MANILA, Philippines?Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago Wednesday branded as ?irregular and unnecessary? the use of taxpayers? money to advertise the legacy of the Arroyo presidency.

Interviewed by reporters, Santiago said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had many opportunities to advertise her accomplishments as chief executive for a record nine years.

?It?s not only irregular, but unnecessary because the President has many opportunities to list down these achievements, agency by agency,? said Santiago.

She said Ms Arroyo, when she delivers her State of the Nation speeches, ?she can make it part of her speech for that year.?

?Or when she speaks to certain interest groups in society, then she can make a pitch for the achievements of that particular agency over that particular interest group. But to spend public money for these kinds of advertisements must be pursuant to be criteria set by the Commission on Audit (COA),? said the senator.

Santiago reminded Secretary Conrado Limcaoco, head of the Philippine Information Agency, to review COA circulars on disbursements of public funds.

Santiago said COA had issued a circular that listed several requirements to be met before the advertisement could be considered legitimate expense of public funds.

?No. 1, the expense should not be irregular or unnecessary or excessive or extravagant. No. 2, it should be information that the public needs to know. No. 3, the information should be essential to the functions of the agency,? said Santiago.

Finally, she said the agency should have a budget for that particular purpose of propaganda or publicity.

?The agency cannot just draw funds from other line items and divert it for the purpose of publicity,? she said.

Arroyo?s former socioeconomic planning secretary Ralph Recto claimed that the government had spent P2 billion in the last 2 years for state ads, mostly infomercials of Cabinet men running in this year?s election.

Recto said that based on a COA report, the national government forked out P912 million for advertising in print, radio and TV in 2008 or nearly double the previous year?s level.

Malacañang has budgeted P818 million in ad spending for this year which Recto said it would surpass considering the nearing elections and the massive ads being rolled out at the start of this year as President Arroyo joined in the act with her numerous ads extolling her accomplishments during her term. With reports from Gil Cabacungan and Alycia Gawthorne