President Rodrigo Duterte’s confidential intelligence funds which amounted to P4.5 billion for the year 2020 would be grilled by Sen. Panfilo Lacson during Senate budget hearings.
Although it requested for a lower allocation for next year’s, Lacson still believes it is ‘too much.’
“[It is] still a bit too much,” he told ANC. “‘Pag sinabi mong (when you say) P4.5 billion a year under one entity, which is the Office of the President—which is not a big office—how do they spend that?”
The senator also raised the concern that this huge amount will be spent on the discretion of the president, including that of the defense department, the police, customs and internal revenue bureaus, and the National Security Agency.
Duterte also has a share from the funds of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) that run up to “billions of pesos every year,” he added.
“I always say what I mean and I always mean what I say. In any budget deliberation, I really ask questions, I want things to be clarified, especially because this is our money,” he said
To further ensure the right spending of budget for next year, officials should cut their travel budget, said the senator.
“‘Pag hindi mo binago, hindi mo ini-cut ‘yong travel expenses ng government officials, saan sila pumupunta? E may lockdown nga tayo and nobody travels abroad,” he said.
[If you don’t change, cut the travel expenses, where could government officials go? We have a lockdown and nobody travels abroad.]
