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The Commission on Audit’s finding on the Philippine National Police’s utilization of its anti-insurgency funds is proof that the government did not need the P19.2-billion anti-insurgency fund in the 2022 national budget, Senate Minority leader Franklin Drilon said Thursday.
Drilon said the fund was lodged under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in 2020.
“This is also proof that we do not need to give a single centavo to the NTF-ELCAC for 2022,” he added.
“We have more than sufficient funds to counter insurgency, millions of which remain untouched, unobligated and unspent,” said Drilon.
The Senate leader said that to fund NTF-ELCAC in 2022 “will cause unnecessary drain on our limited resources” meant to respond to the continuing pandemic and provide aid to millions of unemployed and hungry Filipinos.
“To insist on anti-insurgency funding in the 2022 national budget in the light of the COA findings will bolster suspicion that the NTF-ELCAC is a huge campaign kitty,” he said.
Sen. Sonny Angara said they will ask all the agencies tasked to implement the program to account for the funds appropriated by Congress and released to them.
“We owe this to the people, and we should be guided in our future actions relating to the budget,” he said.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said they will ask the PNP during the coming budget hearings to explain why only 12% of anti-insurgency funds have been used.
“Yes, there is an obvious flaw somewhere… we will find out.”