MANILA (October 11, 2025, 2:58 p.m.) – The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) is finalizing the donation process for the Government Communications Academy (GCA) in Bukidnon

In a statement on Saturday, PCO Acting Secretary Dave Gomez said the GCA, a PCO-led project located in the town of Manolo Fortich, will be donated to Northern Bukidnon State College.

“The building’s donation to Northern Bukidnon State College is already being finalized. Maraming mga mag-aaral sa ating state college sa Bukidnon ang makikinabang dito (Many students at our state college in Bukidnon will benefit from this),” he said.

Gomez said the Presidential Communications Operations Office, the PCO’s forerunner, should not have engaged in a public works project that falls “outside our core responsibility.”

In a news release also on Saturday, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian flagged the PCO for contracting the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to undertake an infrastructure project that falls outside its core function.

Citing the 2024 Commission on Audit (COA) report, Gatchalian said the now-defunct PCOO contracted the DPWH in 2019 to construct Phase II of the GCA in Bukidnon.

The facility has a project cost of PHP 45.7 million.

However, COA reports from 2020 to 2023 listed a similar project with a different amount — PHP 79 million.

The GCA has no budget allocation for 2026, as funds were allotted for the completion of the remaining 10 percent of construction, Gatchalian said.

The project of the previous administration was originally intended as a training center for communication offices under Malacañang and its attached agencies. (Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos/PNA)