PCOO usec quits, denies P647M missing

Presidential Communications Undersecretary Noel George Puyat confirmed on Friday that he had submitted his resignation to President Duterte, but denied that P647 million in the agency’s funds was missing.

Puyat also contradicted reports that the Commission on Audit (COA) was looking for the funds, saying the COA had issued a certification that it had not yet released its audit report on the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

“I filed my intent to resign but I don’t know if it has been accepted or not,” he told reporters in a phone interview on Friday afternoon.

The P647 million was supposed to have been used to fund an information caravan to promote the country’s hosting of last year’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit.

Puyat, the undersecretary for administration and finance, said his resignation on May 1 was a personal decision and not a result of the malicious insinuation against him.

He maintained that all of the PCOO’s expenses for the Asean summit were all accounted for. —JULIE M. AURELIO