Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil on Monday denied the existence of a ''troll army'' in the agency.

This was in response to a question posed by Senator JV Ejercito as the Senate Finance panel tackled the PCO’s 2024 budget.

“In the past administration, there were senators that questioned, the previous Congress as well, the 1,479 contractual employees who they see as trolls. Are they still existent?” Ejercito asked.

“For the record, Mr. Chair, we do not have trolls. No troll, no troll army,” Garafil answered.

She added that there are only 363 employees under PCO and only one is contractual.

The Senate Committee on Finance approved the proposed P1.91 billion budget of the Presidential Communications Office and its attached agencies for 2024.

Among the approved items were a request for P16 million for the PCO media literacy campaign to counter fake news.

Also approved was a request for 60 digital transmitters worth P25 million to comply with the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) requirement to transition from analog to digital.

Ejercito said it will decide if they would grant P500 million to retirees of IBC-13. Jaspearl Tan/DMS