The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the failure of the Office of the President (OP) to fully implement its Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) for 2022 to 2024 with 72.48 percent or P233.1 million of the project’s budget of P321.7 million remained unutilized as of Dec. 31, 2024.

In its 2024 annual audit report (AAR) on the OP, the COA said that the implementation of the ISSP was negatively affected due to "changes in management priorities."

"The ISSP intends to transform the OP into a more conducive and sophisticated working place to ensure its goal in improving the way it provides services and how it interacts with the general public through the use of ICT," it said.

It noted that the OP has already successfully implemented several Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programs and projects in order to uphold its client protection and welfare, particularly on data privacy and security.

It added that within a span of three years, the OP was able to install additional CCTV cameras within the Malacanang Complex, purchase a heavy-duty document scanner for digitization, implement a face recognition terminal for Time and Attendance, and actively monitor cyber threats to its information systems, among many other things.

However, the COA noted that the majority of the planned programs and projects indicated in the ISSP were not implemented. In fact, the OP only utilized P88,545,830.10 or 27.52 percent out of the total P321,707,080.70 allocated for it.

Citing examples, the COA said that the OP has a budget of P17,677,220 for the enhancement of IP Surveillance, but only P3,219,733.10 was implemented.

A total of P1,104,000 was allocated for the Enhancement of Wireless Backhaul, but only P352,000 was spent, it also said.

It added that the OP has a budget of P2,058,000 for the Replacement and Expansion of Access Points, but it only spent P427,500, while the Upgrade of IP-PBX Technology was given a budget of P4,470,000, but only P1,801,849 was used.

For the budget of Business Continuity Operations on Premise, the OP had a budget of P22,848,879.80 but no amount was used, the COA said.

"We further learned that the delays and/or non-implementation of the ISSP projects were attributed to some changes of Management priorities introduced during actual implementation," COA’s audit report stated.

"Although the Management has prerogative of determining priority programs/projects as part of their decision-making process in as much as the procurement priorities are concerned, we are concerned that disregarding the approved 3-year ISSP will defeat the purpose of the plan while disregarding the provisions of Section 27 of the General Provisions (GP) of the General Appropriations Act (GAA)," it added.

Thus, the COA said it is "crucial" for the OP to thoroughly evaluate the implementation of its ICT projects and determine necessary actions to ensure that its ICT goals are aligned with global digitization.

It recommended that the OP should create a more dynamic reporting structure and monitoring mechanism to ensure full implementation of the ISSP and the accompanying ICT projects.

For its part, the OP said that it is committed to pursue stringent and proactive monitoring and evaluation of ICT projects.