The youth group Anakbayan has wrongly claimed the confidential fund allocated for the Office of the President in 2020 grew 1,760 percent in three years.
Anakbayan’s Oct. 13 Facebook post said:
The neglect of public services has been made worse by Duterte's gigantic confidential fund which grew by a whopping 1,760% in the span of three years to Php 4.4 Billion for 2020.
Data from the Department of Budget Management website reveal an annual P1.25 billion allotment for confidential expenses in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The proposed confidential fund for 2020 is P2.25 billion.
The amount proposed for intelligence expenses is also P2.25 billion.
If the confidential expenses and the intelligence expenses are totaled, these would reach P4.45 billion. The two, however, are classified separately in the General Appropriations Act.
Then President Benigno Aquino’s confidential fund stood at P250 million budget in 2016. It means an increase of only 400 percent, and not more than 1,700 percent as Anakbayan claimed, from his term to Duterte’s.
The executive branch spends confidential fund on matters of national security and peace and order. Its specific use is not disclosed to the public.
The claim was made amid the recent procurement of a P2 billion Gulfstream G280 aircraft for the travels of Duterte and other senior government officials. (EEM)
References
Duterte's office has highest confidential, intel funds in proposed 2020 budget. (2019, Aug. 28). Rappler. Retrieved from www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/238599-duterte-office-highest-confidential-intelligence-funds-proposed-2020-national-budget
Gov't buys P2 billion jet for Duterte, senior gov't officials. (2019, Oct. 8). ABS-CBN News. Retrieved from https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/08/19/govt-buys-p2-billion-jet-for-duterte-senior-govt-officials
The President’s Offices Appropriations/Obligations: National Expenditure Program 2017. (2017). Department of Budget and Management. Retrieved from www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2017/OP/OP.pdf
The President’s Offices Appropriations/Obligations: National Expenditure Program 2019. (2019). Department of Budget and Management. Retrieved from www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP%202019/OP/OP.pdf