Pinasinungalingan ni House Speaker Martin Romualdez ang mga espekulasyon na may kaugnayan sa politika ang desisyon ng Kamara ng alisan ng confidential fund ang Office of the Vice President at DepEd na pawang pinamumunuan ni Vice President Sara Duterte.
Sa isang press briefing, natanong ang House leader kung ano ang reaksyon nito sa mga pahayag ng mga political analyst na may kaugnayan ang hakbang ng Kamara sa susunod na presidential elections.
Wala umano itong katotohanan ani Romualdez.
Simple at malinaw naman ang rason kung bakit nila piniling i-realign ang confidential funds ng civilian agencies gaya ng DepEd—at ito ay para palakasin ang pagbabantay sa West Philippine Sea.
“I think people are reading too much into it. I think it’s very, very straightforward and simple. So the CIF had the topic, it all came up, and there were a lot of discussions and debates in the House and in fact even in the Senate. I think there’s a bit too much speculation and I think people are reading too much into that. It’s nothing other than the fact that that’s what we’ve seen. And as a natural progression of the budget hearings, the budget briefings, and the plenary discussions, just a natural progression and we felt that it was the right thing to do. And even the Vice President said that if need be, she could live without it and that it would be left to the sound discretion of the Congress.” ani Romualdez.
Sinusugan naman ito ni Appropriations Senior Vice Chair Stella Quimbo at sinabi na hindi sila basta lang namimili kung sino ang tatanggalan ng confidential fund.
Kanila aniyang nira-rationalize ang pagtapyas o pag-alis sa confidential funds salig sa general principles ng budget bill.
Sa ilalim ng 2024 General Appropriations Bill mayroong nasa higit ₱4 bilyon na confidential fund.
“Katulad ng sinasabi ni Speaker in other words, hindi po tayo namimili. Meaning to say we apply general principles dito po sa pag-rationalize ng CIF.” paliwanag ni Quimbo. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
