Junk the junketeer

“Unfortunately, some officials are either too dense or too eager to travel in style that they fail to heed Duterte’s admonition.

Setting the example, President Rodrigo Duterte has always taken commercial flights to and from his hometown Davao City while admonishing all government officials against excessive and unnecessary travels abroad.

If government officials must travel, they must take economy class since their plane tickets are paid for by hard-earned taxpayers’ money, said the Chief Executive.

The President does not actually forbid officials from travelling business or first class. They can if they wish to do so, provided they will shoulder the fare difference from economy class accommodation.

Unfortunately, some officials are either too dense or too eager to travel in style that they fail to heed Duterte’s admonition, such as actor Cesar Montano, who has taken to extravagant travels as chief operating officer of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB).

While Montano has already resigned from his post, new Ombudsman Samuel Martires will do well in filing the necessary charges against the actor and his coterie in relation to the TPB shenanigans uncovered by the Commission on Audit (CoA).

In all, Montano had 14 trips abroad in 2017 covering 91 days and costing P2.276 million in government funds, including P594,000 for business class tickets alone, according to the state auditing agency.

CoA added that a total of P4.952 million of people’s money had been wasted by three other TPB officials on foreign trips, including Montano’s executive assistant and private secretary who traveled with him.

Now, that’s globe-trotting in style done by Montano with his choice of hangers-on. Question is, what kind of tourism promotion would justify TPB officials staying abroad for nearly a third of 2017?

Smells of a hyper-extended junket, from where we sit, for Montano and company, no matter if they feign ignorance about President Duterte’s ground rules on foreign travels.

Still, Montano, et al, should have known that under the Administrative Code of 1997, government officials are restricted to economy class trips, unless otherwise authorized by the President.

“In all, Montano had 14 trips abroad in 2017.

The TPB junkets, nonetheless, represent only the tip of the iceberg, which Ombudsman Martires should unravel. It should include the P26.622 million in travel expenses Montano’s group understated, according to CoA.

Then there’s the P7 million in financial grants by Montano’s TPB to organizations, local government units and a private corporation CoA flagged for not having anything to do with tourism.

Also, Ombudsman investigators should look into the P11.2 million contract questioned by CoA to have been directly negotiated by Montano — with a losing bidder, at that —- for the Fusion 2017 event.

Many of the TPB activities under Montano, according to CoA, were conducted in gross violation of government regulations, particularly the implementing rules of the Tourism Act of 2009.

If the millions of pesos CoA said the TPB squandered under Montano are not enough for the Ombudsman to show he means business, then there’s Montano’s highly irregular P320 million Buhay Carinderia program.

Beats us what the poor man’s eatery (carinderia) has to do with tourism promotion. But P320 million for that program certainly reeks of even more senseless expenditure of taxpayers’ money, particularly when taken in the context of Montano’s junkets.

Mr. Ombudsman, it’s time to bring out your chopping block.