Communication Undersecretary Kris Ablan said the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has requested the addition of more plantilla positions in the agency so the contract of service (COS) employees can become regular workers.

Ablan made the statement after confirming that the PCOO had hired 375 contractual workers in 2020, an act flagged by state auditors.

In an interview with Super Radyo DZBB, Ablan said they have already made the request to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

"Nag-request na kami sa DBM ng plantilla positions para makalipat na sa regular position ang ilang contractual employees (We have requested the DBM for more plantilla positions so some contractual employees can move to regular positions)," he said Sunday, July 11.

He added that some employees will undergo civil service examinations to qualify for regular positions.

A plantilla is a government-approved listing of positions in any governmental institution.

The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the PCOO's "unrestricted and massive" hiring of contractual employees that cost the agency P70.6 million, an amount the COA said could have been used for "other programs and projects of the government."

The COA said the number of contractual personnel accounted for 70 percent of PCOO's total workforce. It was also 260 percent higher than the 114 regular employees in the agency.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Ablan reiterated that the PCOO had to hire more people to supplement the demand from many government programs.

"Dumami po ang projects natin sa production at creatives. Nag-take kasi tayo ng ibang programa ng ibang ahensya (We had more projects in production and creatives because we took over the programs of other agencies)," he said.

However, he said the number of COS employees has gone down to 305 following the completion of some of these projects.

Ablan said that COS employees received about P15,000 per month.

In an interview with ANC on Friday, July 9, Ablan justified the hiring, saying most of the tasks assigned to COS personnel were "highly technical."

"They needed the likes of graphic artists, videographers, editors, directors, colorists to produce content for other agencies as our clients," he said.

He added that the PCOO hired contractual personnel instead of filling up the vacancies in the agency.

"Several reasons. One of them, it's possible that the salary items were very low," he said.

Ablan likewise clarified that the PCOO did not hire any trolls.

"We don't have trolls at PCOO," he said.

"The social media specialists in the COA report are actually our graphic artists who upload our socmed (social media) cards, our infographics explaining our programs on PhilSys (Philippine Identification System), COVID-19 (coronavirus disease( response and the vaccines," he added.

"They don't do what we normally understand what a troll does. It's not under the PCOO," he continued.