Lawmaker bares P180B ‘missing’ DND funds

A militant lawmaker on Monday claimed that almost P180 billion has been “siphoned" from the Department of National Defense (DND) budget during the past nine years. Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said a discrepancy amounting to P179.3 billion has been observed from the DND personal services budget from 2002 to 2010, or during the Arroyo administration. He said that the budgets for personal services, or the amount appropriated by Congress for salaries of DND employees, during these years were always double the actual money released by the department for its staff. In 2010, for example, the personal services budget was at P41.3 million, while the amount stated in the department’s staffing summary was only P19.3 million, according to data released by Colmenares’ office to the media. “The question is where did all the money go and in all these years, did [then President] Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo know nothing about it?" the lawmaker said in statement. Colmenares said he will try to provide an explanation to this supposed anomaly in the DND on Tuesday morning. The militant lawmaker’s allegation of irregularity in the Defense budget came weeks after former state auditor Heidi Mendoza and former military finance officer George Rabusa revealed in congressional inquiries alleged corruption in the military. Rabusa revealed during a Senate investigation a supposed practice of giving pay-offs to top military officials upon their retirement, while Mendoza detailed in House committee hearings supposed missing funds from the military budget. - Andreo Calonzo/KBK, GMA News