MANILA, Philippines - The government's advertising expenses reached over P900 million in 2008, almost double the P561 million incurred in the previous year, according to former senator Ralph Recto.

Recto said the P912 million that government agencies spent for advertisements 2 years ago breached the amount allocated for that purpose, which was P673 million.

"Ad expenses surged in the year when government was supposed to observe austerity," Recto said, noting that there was a Malacañang ban on unnecessary advertisements.

The former economic planning secretary was referring to Administrative Order 102, which President Arroyo issued on August 31, 2004. The order suspended "paid media advertisements, except those required in the issuance of agency guidelines, rules and regulations, the conduct of public bidding, and the dissemination of important public announcements."

Recto pointed out that biddings for public projects were not responsible for the hike in advertising costs. He said the Department of Public Works and Highways, the biggest media buyer for invitation-to-bid notices, spent a mere P11 million for advertising in 2008.

For 2009, Recto said preliminary appraisal showed the government may have spent P1.14 billion for ads, which could bring the total for the last 2 years to P2 billion.

Malacañang had proposed a government ad budget of P818 million for 2010, but Recto noted this may also be surpassed.

Advertising important

Recto said that government advertisements are important, but these should serve public purpose.

"There are ads that are essential like health advisories on epidemics, warnings on imminent natural calamities, school calendar, and traffic rerouting advisories. Ads that promote the country as a tourism destination and thus entice visitors to spend their money here are also example of ads that give more bang for the buck," he said.

"Unfortunately, there are also advertisements that serve no public purpose and pursue no common good. These are the ones that government must avoid," he added.

Recto said he used official Commission on Audit reports in divulging ad expenditures of the national government for 2008.