By Genalyn D. Kabiling
A Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary has resigned from his post but strongly denied any irregular disbursement in the agency’s budget during a regional summit last year.
Noel Puyat, PCOO Undersecretary for Administration and Finance, said he has tendered his resignation letter to President Duterte last May 1 for personal reasons. His resignation takes effect on May 30.
“It is with sad and a heavy heart that I write this letter to you signifying my resignation from PCOO as of May 30.
Being the lawyer of my family, I have been requested by my father to assist some business and some personal matters,” Puyat said in his letter to the President.
In a phone interview with reporters, Puyat made clear that his resignation was not connected with the alleged Commission on Audit report that supposedly questioned the P647-million spent by the PCOO during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV has filed a resolution seeking a probe into the alleged irregular PCOO spending, including an information caravan during the country’s chairmanship of the ASEAN last year.
Puyat said no such CoA report on the PCOO was actually issued since the audit was still ongoing based on information from CoA Supervisor Auditor for the PCOO Edna Salaguban.
Nonetheless, Puyat defended that the PCOO transactions have been above board, citing that the department has received certifications of “no disallowances for the past six audit quarters.”
Puyat cited that the department has even returned around P600 million in unspent funds out of its R1.4-billion budget for the ASEAN to the National Treasury.
