Pinabulaanan ng Senado ang mga kumakalat na ulat sa social media na mayroon umano itong ₱331 milyong confidential funds sa ilalim ni Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri ngayong taon.
Sa pahayag ni Senate Secretary Atty. Renato Bantug Jr. nitong Martes, Oktubre 10, binigyang-diin niyang mayroong “zero confidential funds” ang Senado sa taong 2023.
“These social media posts are deliberately misleading and maliciously presented by some personalities who seek to malign and tarnish the reputation of an institution currently taking a long, hard look at the nature of confidential and intelligence funds and the government agencies that deserve to have them,” giit ni Bantug.
“The Senate, for 2023, has no allocation for confidential funds. The records will show that under the Senate’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) this year, the object of expenditure ‘Confidential, Intelligence and Extraordinary Expenses’ has three line items and these are Confidential Funds, Intelligence Funds, at Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses,” dagdag niya.
Confidential funds ng 5 gov’t agencies, inalis ng Kamara – Quimbo
Kaugnay nito, sinabi ni Bantug na ang “Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses” lamang ang mayroong line item na nagkakahalaga ng ₱331,942,000 para sa 2023. Wala umanong line items para sa “Confidential Funds” maging sa “Intelligence Funds.”
Nagamit naman umano ng Senado ang naturang ₱331.9 milyong “Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses” sa kanilang meetings, seminars, conferences, public relations, education, at iba pang mga aktibidad.
“In the past Senate leadership, the confidential fund allocations of the Senate amounted to ₱100 million in 2020, ₱100 million in 2021, and ₱50 million in 2022. But all of these funds were never used and were reverted to the National Treasury in full,” saad ni Bantug.
Binanggit din ng opisyal na naniniwala si Zubiri na hindi raw kailangan ng Senado ng confidential funds.
"Senate President Juan Miguel 'Migz' F. Zubiri is firm in his belief that the Senate does not need confidential funds. He has been actively saying that confidential and intelligence funds should be for our military, police and other uniformed personnel who protect our country from both internal and external security threats,” ani Bantug.
“The Senate, through the recently constituted Select Oversight Committee on Confidential and Intelligence Funds, will continue to examine the CIFs of government agencies under a rigorous lens of scrutiny and realign them accordingly to those who really need them,” saad pa niya.
