P.5 B Hike in Phone Bills

Govt’s ‘phone and postage’ bill rose by P.5 B in ‘04
NG cellphone expense up by 50%, LGUs by 124 %

Government’s “phone and postage” bill rose by almost
half a billion pesos in 2004 compared to the previous
year, mostly due to an increase in cellular phone use
by government officials, Sen. Ralph Recto said.

Recto said national government agencies,
government-owned or -controlled corporations, and
local government units spent P3.724 billion for
“postage, landline and mobile telephone use, and
internet, cable, telegraph expenses” in 2004.

This amount, under what is grouped in the government
as “communication expenses,” is P447 million or 14
percent higher than the P3.277 billion it shelled out
for the same purpose in 2003.

Last year, national government agencies racked up a
total of P1.897 billion in communication bills from
P1.666 billion in 2003, while GOCCs added P1.116
billion (2003 : P967 M) and local governments, P710
million (2003 : P644 M).

The increase, Recto pointed out, was largely due to
the rise in mobile phone billings.

Cellular phone use in national government agencies, he
said, jumped by almost 50 percent, thereby increasing
their bill from P168 million in 2003 to P251 million
last year.

Local governments, on the other hand, more than
doubled their mobile phone expense, from P72.6 million
in 2003 to P163 million the following year.

The consolidated Commission on Audit financial report
on GOCCs, which was the basis of Recto’s findings, did
not, however, contain a breakdown of the communication
expenses spent by government corporations.

“But it is safe to assume that our more techno-savvy
friends in the GOCC sector increased their mobile
phone use,” he said.                                  
         

While telephone use has been on the rise, payment of
postage by both NG agencies and LGUs, on the other
hand, has been declining.  NG spent P176 million in
2004, down from P199 million in 2003, and the latter,
following the same downhill trend, from P25 million in
2003 to P21 million last year.

While public offices, like the rest of the nation, are
staying away from post and telegraph offices, more and
more of them are hitting the information highway to
send out communication.

Recto said the cost of LGUs’ internet subscription
tripled to P19 million in 2004, while more NGs are
being wired, as shown by a 25 percent increase, or to
P159 million, in their internet fees.

“Even in the bureaucracy, where manual typewriters
still rule in some pockets, email now beats snail
mail,” he said.

As telephone density increases, Recto expects a yearly
rise in the phone and internet expenses of the
1.3-million strong bureaucracy.

“This is not bad per se, for as long as this form of
technology would increase government productivity,
improve public services and make public officials more
accessible to the people. Who doesn’t want a police
car that is just a text away, or asking for a
government document by a click of a mouse?” he said.

“However, the convenience to the public that
e-governance brings should not be abused by officials
who use government communication resources for their
own private use,” he said.

“This is where the DBM and the CoA should come in by
imposing reasonable ceilings on the usage of a phone
or internet facility by an authorized government
employee without sacrificing efficiency in service,”
he said.

“Computers are not for personal chatting, but for
public service. One should not use his government-paid
cellular phone in checking on the maid at home if the
children had eaten supper,” he said.