“The three Cabinet members involved in media relations—collectively known either as the Communications Group or the Three Stooges—requested to draw P200 million in financing from the Presidents intelligence funds… At the budget hearings in the House, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said the Office of the President had already sent a correction to the Budget Department ordering it to include the P200-million budget of the newly created Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office under Secretary Ramon Carandang.”
The Manila Satndard Today reports that “lawmakers on Friday complained that the Palace communications group will draw P200 million in financing from the President’s P500-million confidential intelligence fund, which is not reflected in the national budget.
Another P50 million from the intelligence fund will be channeled to the Truth Commission that the President ordered established to prosecute the cases of alleged corruption in the previous administration, and again without having to pass congressional scrutiny.
On top of its allotted budget of P4.075 billion, the Office of the President also had P11 billion at its disposal through the President’s Social Fund, which was also not reflected in the national budget, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said.
At the budget hearings in the House, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said the Office of the President had already sent a correction to the Budget Department ordering it to include the P200-million budget of the newly created Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office under Secretary Ramon Carandang.
Asked if this meant the original P500 million allotted to the intelligence fund was bloated, Ochoa said: “I think P300 million [for the] intelligence fund is sufficient. We haven’t had the chance to correct [it]. The budget was already prepared.”
Ochoa said the P11-billion social fund was lodged with the office of the Presidential Management Staff led by Julia Abad, daughter of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. For this year, Ochoa said, the fund’s current account had P1.63 billion as of Sept. 15.
But House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman chided Ochoa, saying the President had enough time to submit an accurate budget.
“It is only now that we have realized this part of the item was overstated,” Lagman told the appropriations committee led by Cavite Rep. Emilio Joseph Abaya.
“There may be other items, so the committee will go over very seriously and thoroughly the other items,”
Asked what would happen to the P50-million budget for the Truth Commission if the Supreme Court found that the body was unconstitutional, Ochoa said the money would revert to the National Treasury as “savings.”
Padilla demanded that the Office of the President properly account for the P11-billion budget that would be allocated to the Presidential Social Fund from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
“We learned from Pagcor that for 2011, the PSF of the President is expected to be funded P11 billion. How come it is not in the national budget?” Padilla said.
Abaya, who presided over the hearing, confirmed Padilla’s view that the P11 billion was not part of the spending plan that was submitted to Congress.
“You cannot utilize something without proper appropriation. No money shall be disbursed without proper appropriation,” Lagman said.
Abaya asked Ochoa to provide the committee with a more detailed accounting of the P11 billion and the documents needed to justify the amount, and Ochoa promised to do so.” by Christine F. Herrera
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