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Sen. Win Gatchalian, October 6, 2025. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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SENATE BUDGET HEARING- BCDA/ PhilPOST

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175983161808220251006-senate-budget-hearing-villar-gatchalian-MT5.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Sen. Win Gatchalian, October 6, 2025. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</div>MANILA -- There is a need to study if allocating P66 million to the Optical Media Board (OMB) for 2026 is justifiable given its poor performance, a lawmaker said Tuesday.During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance, its chairperson Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pointed out that the OMB had zero accomplishments in terms of physical inspection orders served on optical media establishments from July to September 2024, based on a Commission on Audit (COA) report. The OMB admitted this and said it was only able to do pre-inspection. The agency said there was a problem with the authority given to the previous officer-in-charge, James Macasero, who only performed ministerial functions. “With due respect to my predecessor, the authority given to him by Malacañang only defined he was OIC of Optical Media Board,”  OMB OIC-Chairman and CEO Dennis Pinlac said. “That’s why our OIC then was hesitant to give inspection orders and mission orders for our field personnel on that. He only concentrated on running the office as to the salaries of our employees, the utilities,” Pinlac added.He said Macasero sought clarification from Malacañang but did not appear to get a reply. “Hindi binibigyan ng budget, di binibigyan ng powers. Ngayon may threat ng abolition,” Gatchalian said. “The message is the lack of importance from the point of the Executive. Kung importanteng importante ito dapat very clear yung memo, very clear yung appointment, kinlarify yung mga powers niya that led to a poor performance in 2024, both in terms of physical and in terms of your utilization,” the senator said. Pinlac noted that optical media were not limited to CDs, which have become obsolete. “That is a misconception,” Pinlac stated. He said that the OMB also covers magnetic media. Gatchalian said he would need to further understand the industry and weigh if it was still relevant in order to defend the OMB budget.

There is a need to study if allocating P66 million to the Optical Media Board (OMB) for 2026 is justifiable given its poor performance, a lawmaker said Tuesday.

There is a need to study if allocating P66 million to the Optical Media Board (OMB) for 2026 is justifiable given its poor performance, a lawmaker said Tuesday.

Optical Media Board’s performance, relevance questioned in Senate hearing

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Optical Media Board’s performance, relevance questioned in Senate hearing

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 07, 2025 06:07 PM PHT

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OMB

Optical Media Board

budget

Senate

Committee on Finance

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