Senator seeks redistribution of P1.4-B intelligence fund

Senator Franklin Drilon on Wednesday sought to redistribute the P1.425-billion intelligence funds to regular items in the 2011 budget so that the money could be subjected to audit. "The government should take a look and revisit the use of intelligence funds to reprogram it to line functions which will be opened to a regular audit, rather than under the lump sum of confidential funds," Drilon said in a statement. "With this, we can properly monitor if the intelligence funds were actually used for security purposes," added Drilon, who chairs the Senate finance committee Drilon had revealed the supposed misuse of intelligence and confidential funds during the Arroyo administration, wherein state firms, in liquidating their expenses, merely used certifications to back up their financial report. He specifically cited the state firm Clark Development Authority’s P10-million intelligence fund that was spent and accounted for using only certification. "We want an entire picture of how much would be the intelligence fund of the entire government structure because we suspect that this is being abused," he said. OP intel funds Earlier, Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa said the Office of the President (OP) reduced the amount of intelligence and confidential funds under their office by P250 million. He said there was initially P150 million allotted for the OP proper and P500 million for the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC). Drilon said he understands that the OP should have "adequate but not excessive" intelligence funds enough to cover presidential state visits. He noted, however, that the P1.425-billion allocation mentioned in next year's budget does not even include the intelligence funds of local government units and government owned and controlled corporations. In the 2010 budget, P1.38 billion was allotted for intelligence funds. Drilon has assured the public that Congress will be able to ratify the P1.645-trillion national budget for 2011 before the end of the year to make sure that the government will not operate on a reenacted budget and to avoid delays in the Aquino administration's priority projects. The House of Representatives approved the 2011 General Appropriations Bill on second reading last October 16, just before Congress went on its three-week break. Congress will resume session on November 8 and will go on its holiday break on December 18. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV