Removed secret funds less likely to be restored in bicam level — Angara
Sen. Sonny Angara during the interpellation in the Senate on Nov. 29, 2023. Joseph Vidal / OSEC-Social Media Unit
MANILA, Philippines — Confidential funds of civilian agencies stripped by Congress remained less likely to be restored in the bicameral committee level tackling the P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024, according to Senator Sonny Angara.
In an ambush interview on Thursday, Angara, chairman of the upper chamber’s committee on finance, downplayed claims that there’s a possibility that the secret allocation of some government agencies may still be restored by the bicameral conference committee.
“I don’t think so,” Angara told reporters after he was asked whether there are talks on restoration of some confidential allocation between contingents from the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“Ang napaguusapan lang, I think, is Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Kasi sa DICT ay parang to increase cybersecurity dahil alam natin na minsan ang giyera ay hindi na sa battlefield — hindi na barilan, kundi someone can disable your cybernetworks kapag nawala ang information, ‘di ba? Tayo as consumers, nagta-transact tayo online. Kapag nawala ‘yun, pilay tayo [and] our economy will come to a halt,” Angara explained.
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Article continues after this advertisement(The only thing being talked about, I think, is the DICT. Because DICT’s [confidential funds] will be used to increase cybersecurity because we know that sometimes the war is no longer on the battlefield — it’s not about shooting, but someone can disable your cybernetworks when information is lost, right? As consumers, we transact online. When we lose that, we will be crippled [and] our economy will come to a halt.)
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In a separate ambush interview, Senator JV Ejercito echoed Angara’s words, saying that confidential funds earlier removed by the House of Representatives and Senate will no longer be restored.
“I don’t think it will be. It’s done in the Senate and in the House. I don’t see any reasons, justification, to bring it back,” said Ejercito, partly in Filipino.
Selected lawmakers from both chambers of the Congress convened on Thursday morning to reconcile the differences between conflicting provisions of House Bill No. 8980, which contains the 2024 national budget.
