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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Senate urged to name solons violating consultants’ salary cap

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The opposition United Nationalist Alliance  on Monday dared the Senate leadership to name senators who have practically violated the provisions on compensation for consultants, and disclose the names of these consultants and their qualifications.

“The senators should practice what they preach. It would be fitting if the Senate, in the spirit of transparency and public accountability, should name the senators identified by the Commission on Audit particularly the one who pays a consultant P94,000 and the senator who maintains 60 consultants,” UNA interim president and Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco said.

Tiangco said some senators should be able  some senators seemed not to adhere in this principle as the Commission on Audit (COA) last week questioned the Senate about the P231.8 million in consultancy expenses, and its continuously increasing spending for consultants.

“Mas mabuti kung ang Senate leadership mismo ang magbigay ng detalye for the sake of transparency. Nakakatawa dahil may ilang mga senador who style themselves as moral guardians questioning how government money is spent but they are the ones clearly spending people’s money,” Tiangco said.

Tiangco said that as public servants, the senators should be examples as how the public’s money is spent.

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“These senators are leading the charge in pushing for transparency and following the rules, so they should be paragons of moral ascendancy. Apparently, for some senators the principle of ‘practice what you preach’ is only lip service and simply talk about it to gain media mileage for their own political and personal agenda,” Tiangco said.

COA, in an Audit Memorandum Order (AOM) sent to the Senate, demanded an explanation on how one senator needed to hire 60 consultants to aid him in his legislative work, and another senator paying a consultant as high as P94,000 a month.

“May ilang senador na mahilig silang mag-lecture at pagalitan ang ibang mga government officials at employees tungkol sa paggastos ng pera ng taong bayan pero sila mismo ay hindi sumusunod sa government accounting rules,” he added.

The COA also said that the Senate’s expenses for consultancies increased from P147.5 million in 2012 to P188.96 million in 2013 and to P231.88 million last year.

The COA has found in its analysis of expenses of consultancy services from January to November 2014 that several senators exceeded the allocated monthly budget for consultancies.

Tiangco said that these consultancy services may have been used to advance the personal interests and agenda of some senators.

“Posibleng nagamit ang mga consultancy services na ito upang i-advance ang mga personal interest at political agenda ng mga senador, at hindi upang gumawa ng mga batas,” he said.

Tiangco added that it is possible that some consultants may have taken part in unearthing or crafting charges against political opponents of senators.

“Sinasayang ang pera ng taong bayan sa posibleng pag-gamit ang mga consultants na ito para sa mga moro-moro sa Senado, imbes na tumulong upang gumawa, ng mga batas na makakatulong sa ating mga mahihirap na kababayan,” Tiangco said.

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