Nangako si Senator Panfilo Lacson na bubusisiin nito ang nakalaang mungkahing budget ng Office of the President (OP) para sa 2021.

Inirason ni Lacson, vice-chairman ng Senate Committee on Finance, malaki ang nasabing halaga, lalo na kung isang ahensya lamang ang paggagamitan nito dahil malaki pa rin ang pangangailangang pondo ng bansa upang labanan ang pandemiya ng virus.

Humihiling aniya ang OP ng P8.23 bilyon para sa budget nito sa susunod na taon, mas mababa sa naging pondo nito ngayong taon na P8.25 bilyon.

Sa nasabing halaga, aabot sa P2.25 bilyon ang ilalaan sa confidential funds, dagdag pa ang isa pang P2.25 bilyon para sa

National

'VP Sara, bawas-bawasan pagiging Sara the explorer!'—Usec. Castro

intelligence funds.

Kahit aniya mababa ng kaunti ang naturang panukalang budget kumpara sa budget nito ngayong taon, sobrang laki pa rin nito.

“It is a little lower but still a bit too much, because you know its started I think with P726 million… then it ballooned to something like P2 billion. And now it’s more than P4 billion just for the Office of the President. When you say P4.5 billion a year under one agency, which is the Office of the President, which is not a big office, how do they spend that? That’s the question,” aniya.

Bukod dito, may access din aniya ang pangulo sa intelligence funds ng iba pang ahensya na saklaw ng Executive department, katulad ng Department of National Defense, Philippine National Police (PNP), National Security Agency (NSA), at ipa pang ahensya.

“You know, the President has control over all other intelligence funds of the entire bureaucracy, meaning the Executive department…Kontrolado pa rin ng Presidente ‘yan. “Kung gusto niya I control ang release, he can control.

“You know, maybe it is time to really ask (tungkol sa intelligence fund), because these are clear (concerns),” paglalahad ni Lacson kaugnay ng intelligence funds na hindi dapat isinasapubliko.

Plano rin ni Lacson na tuklasin at ilabas ang nasabing mga

katanungan kapag tinatalakay na ang budget ng OP sa susunod na pagdinig ng Senate Committee on Finance kaugnay ng nasabng budget.

“I always say what I mean and mean what I say, I really ask questions because I want to be clarified simply because this is our money, this is our budget. Our national debt is already at P9.16 trillion. Where will this bring us, the next generation of Filipinos? A nation of baon sa utang? I don’t question borrowing…Pero dapat kaya tayo hihiram, mag-i-invest tayo for the future,” dagdag pa ng senador.