Sen. Sonny Angara during the interpellation in the Senate on Nov. 29, 2023. Joseph Vidal / OSEC-Social Media Unit
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� 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鈥檚 committee on finance, downplayed claims that there鈥檚 a possibility that the secret allocation of some government agencies may still be restored by the bicameral conference committee.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think so,鈥� 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.
鈥淎ng 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 鈥� hindi na barilan, kundi someone can disable your cybernetworks kapag nawala ang information, 鈥榙i ba? Tayo as consumers, nagta-transact tayo online. Kapag nawala 鈥榶un, pilay tayo [and] our economy will come to a halt,鈥� Angara explained.
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(The only thing being talked about, I think, is the DICT. Because DICT鈥檚 [confidential funds]聽 will be used to increase cybersecurity because we know that sometimes the war is no longer on the battlefield 鈥� it鈥檚 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鈥檚 words, saying that confidential funds earlier removed by the House of Representatives and Senate will no longer be restored.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it will be. It鈥檚 done in the Senate and in the House. I don鈥檛 see any reasons, justification, to bring it back,鈥� 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.