Philippines’ MANILA – The decision by the lower chamber to reallocate the classified and intelligence monies requested by Vice President Sara Duterte’s two agencies was not motivated by politics, according to House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Romualdez defended the House’s choice to transfer the P650 million in CIFs belonging to the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President jointly, claiming that there has been “too much speculation” about the decision.
When Duterte left Lakas-CMD after Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was demoted from senior deputy speaker to deputy speaker, it became clear that there was a political divide between the two top politicians and UniTeam allies. The former president and elder of the dominant Lakas-CMD party, Macapagal-Arroyo, is regarded as Duterte’s political mentor.
Rumors that a coup was being prepared against Romualdez caused his allies to hurry to announce their support for the leader at the time.
Political tensions between the two high-ranking officials erupted once more in June after Duterte cracked a joke at a public gathering by refusing to use President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s maiden name, Romualdez.
During the press conference, Romualdez emphasized that the removal of the CIFs from the budget had been done in accordance with customary congressional procedures.
The task of reallocating CIFs in the planned 2024 budget to organizations in charge of the protection of the West Philippine Sea is now being carried out by a “small committee” at the lower chamber.
In light of the situation, Romualdez added, “we felt that it would be best to realign to the agencies and to the departments and into the areas where we just mentioned that are our priority.”
The House leader stated, “Borrowing the Vice President’s words, even she says she could live without it and she would leave it to the wise judgment of the Congress for its proper disposition.”
Romualdez dismissed the alleged political competition between him and Duterte in support of the realignment.
Romualdez claimed it was just “a natural progression” of the budgeting procedure.
Romualdez stated, “We thought that it was the appropriate thing to do.
The Senate had previously established an oversight committee that examined how about 30 agencies used their CIFs to evaluate whether there is a need to realign the secret fund before ranking House legislators made the last-minute decision to realign CIFs in the proposed 2024 budget.
Contrary to what Romualdez claimed during the news conference, it was “apparently the right decision, because even now the Senate is following suit.”
Romualdez emphasized that the budgeting process is still in progress and that the House is still receptive to the OVP’s ideas.
“But we feel that based on the earlier debates and hearings and all the questions that are brought about, we wanted to be very sensitive and to look at other ways on how to deploy these budget resources,” Romualdez stated.
Rep. Stella Quimbo (Marikina City), senior vice chairwoman of the House appropriations panel, highlighted that the House small committee is not singling out any one government institution because it is currently adopting “general principles as uniformly as possible.”
“The CIFs are being rationalized. In other words, we are doing everything we can to remedy the granting of CIFs,” Quimbo continued.
