MANILA, Philippines?The Bureau of Communications Services (BCS), one of the information agencies of the Office of the President, is set to protest the report of the Commission on Audit (COA), saying its 2009 audit report on the agency was ?unfair.?

?It?s unfair to us... We will be writing the COA,? BCS director Leonardo Alcantara Jr., told the Inquirer in a recent interview, maintaining that the office he has led since May 2006 has ?accomplished a lot.?

COA?s 2009 audit report on the BCS painted the picture of an underperforming agency that completed not even half of its planned projects, mostly the production of information materials that would promote the achievements of the President.

Alcantara and other BCS officials maintained that the agency completed its tasks, making do with antiquated and second hand printing equipment.

In fact, Alcantara even provided Secretary Conrado Limcaoco, erstwhile Philippine Information Agency chief, with its accomplishment report on Feb. 9, a copy of which was given to the Inquirer.

?We?re more of an archival office, the print counterpart of RTVM (Radio TV Malacañang). There?s no (public relations) spin to our work. We print factual publications on the President?s accomplishments,? Alcantara said of the little-known agency that was established during the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The circulation of the BCS is limited to a specific target audience and not mass-based.

?We are professionals and not political. Whatever work we did for the current President, we will also do for the next President. We just follow orders,? Alcantara said.

This was the reason why some of the projects planned for the year were either scrapped or replaced because BCS? work depends on the needs and demands of the higher ups, he explained.

No corrections made

Alcantara and his staff who met with the Inquirer were surprised that the audit report published on the COA?s website did not include the corrections they made during the exit conference with the state auditors last March 19 after noting several ?discrepancies? in the initial audit report.

?We thought they were taking down notes to correct the discrepancies,? said Lino Aala, BCS finance officer.

The BCS staff showed the Inquirer their own breakdown and targets of projects, and their completion, that were contrary to the published report of the COA.

They were oblivious where the auditors got many of the target figures written in the audit report, contrary to the BCS? real targets.

Alcantara?s staff said the BCS targeted the production of only 4,000 copies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s 2009 State of the Nation Address (SONA) and not 9,000 as reported by COA.

The agency also programmed the production of only 5,000 copies of the compiled 2008 speeches of Ms Arroyo and not 87,600 copies or 7,300 copies a month according to COA.

The initial plan to produce 4,000 copies of the book form of the President?s Ulat sa Bayan was replaced by the production of 2009 Presidential Poster Calendar as instructed by the Office of the Press Secretary, and completed during the first quarter of 2009.

The BCS also functions as the secretariat of the quarterly Public Information Forum which has been placed under the PIA and was held during the first quarter of 2009.

Alcantara said the BCS did not print any special/official folders of the President for 2009 because there were still folders in the inventory. The COA report said that the agency failed to print a single copy of the 1,000 copies the bureau was supposed to make in 2009.

SONA press kits

Alcantara also refuted the COA report that the bureau did not make press kits and briefing kits as it should. He showed the Inquirer a copy of the SONA press kit that were in CD form and said 500 CDs were distributed to the media during the July 2009 SONA of Ms Arroyo.

The BCS staff admitted that the printing of Ms Arroyo?s vital legislative achievements from 2008 to 2009 were delayed after the agency?s printers were destroyed during Typhoon Ondoy.

The bureau also cannot yet print the legislative achievements of Ms Arroyo from 2009 to 2010 because this would still cover the last month of her Presidency which would end next week.

As for the supposed illegal contracts of the BCS with private entities such as two beach resorts where they held their team-building and Gender and Development seminar, Aala maintained that the contracts were ?duly accomplished in accordance with... laws, rules and regulations.?

Alcantara lamented that the COA?s report on the contracts made the BCS ?look like we were crooks.?

Alcantara said that all the transactions entered into by the BCS were legitimate.