Marcos trims 2024 travel expenses by 57%

President Marcos trimmed down his travel expenses by 57 percent, or to a total of P328.207 million as of end of 2024 from P763.561 million in 2023, while his confidential and intelligence expenses remained at P4.56 billion, the latest audit report by the Commission on Audit (COA) showed.

- By ELIZABETH MARCELO

Based on COA’s 2024 annual audit report on the Office of the President (OP), uploaded on the audit body’s website on Monday, the President spent a total of P311.712 million for his foreign travels in 2024, down from P753.268 million spent in 2023.

“The decrease in expenses is due to the lesser state visits of the President and implementation of austerity measures, such as limiting the members of the advance team and official delegation, among others,” the COA said.

The audit body said the OP’s expenses for foreign travels in 2024 included “transportation, daily subsistence allowance, passport and visa processing and other foreign travel-related expenses.”

The number of travels as well as the destinations were not stated in the audit report.

Meanwhile, the OP’s expenses for local trips increased to P16.495 million from P10.293 million in 2023.

The COA said this included transportation expenses, travel per diem, ferriage “and all other related expenses.”

The audit body said the increase can be attributed to the “resumption of in-person training programs, various official travels of the OP officers and employees and presidential engagements.”

“The local travels of the President were also driven by the number of natural disasters and weather-related events that occurred in 2024,” the COA added.

Meanwhile, Marcos’ confidential expenses remained at P2.25 billion in 2024. There was also no increase in his office’s intelligence expenses which remained at P2.31 billion.

On the other hand, the OP’s extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses slightly increased to P11.345 million in 2024 from P10.297 million in the previous year.