Dutertes’ anger at secret fund scrutiny, queries opens crack in ‘UniTeam’
MANILA, Philippines—With the decision of the House of Representatives to strip Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte of P650 million in confidential funds, her father, Rodrigo Duterte, seemed to have no choice but to come to her defense. The former president said Sara was planning to use some of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) confidential funds for the revival of the controversial Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He told SMNI, a radio station owned by Duterte pal Apollo Quiboloy, that Sara will insist in making ROTC compulsory. READ: VP Sara wanted intel funds for ROTC revival — Ex-Pres. Duterte But based on government documents, confidential funds are only for confidential expenses related to surveillance activities in civilian government offices that are intended to support their mandate or operations. The elder Duterte later said he prodded his daughter to instead say that her confidential funds—P500 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P150 million for DepEd—would be used against “communists in Congress.” READ: Duterte to Sara: Say secret funds to be used vs ‘communists in Congress’ He even went on threatening one of the fiercest critics of confidential and intelligence funds in the government, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro of the progressive Makabayan bloc in the House. The elder Duterte’s thirst for secret funds, which was removed from his daughter’s OVP and DepEd budgets by a “small committee”, also led him to attack the institution that had backed him throughout his six-year presidency. The House is the “most corrupt institution,” he alleged. But House Secretary General Reginald Velasco immediately countered the former president, saying that the institution is constantly subjected to checks and balances, even by the COA, which was once criticized by the elder Duterte, too. READ: ‘We pass COA audit’: House Sec Gen on Duterte’s tirade on House being rotten The row became evident, even online, with his propagandists echoing his words. Some even said the House, even the Senate, has billions of pesos worth of funds for extraordinary expenses and that Sara is being singled out. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s secret funds should be removed, too, some said. The constant Duterte Velasco pointed out that Rodrigo’s expletives were offensive and that a lot of the members of the House considered the remarks of the former leader as a serious attack, saying that the institution has been unwavering in its dedication to serve Filipinos. READ:
Disclaimer : We make no assurance about the completeness and accuracy of the content of this website. All news on this website is collected from various sources hence information may or may not be true. Money Nations does not verify the reliability of the content published. We do not accept any accountability for loss or damage occurred as a result of reliability on the content of this website.