SecGen to Duterte: House spending aboveboard under Romualdez

The House of Representatives on Wednesday said that its public fund expenditures are all aboveboard as certified by the Commission on Audit (COA), after former president Rodrigo Duterte's comment that the chamber's leadership was "swallowing" pork barrel funds.

“The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez, is in agreement with former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that government expenditures should be transparent and fully auditable. As per the latest COA report released only last October 2, the House of Representatives has no disallowances. No notice of suspension and no notice of charge,” House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said in a statement.

“Ibig pong sabihin, pasado kami sa COA audit,” he added.

(This means, we passed the COA audit.)

In an interview on SMNI Tuesday evening, Duterte defended his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte’s P500 million in confidential funds under the proposed 2024 budget, saying she will use the funds to implement mandatory Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC). He also claimed that Romualdez is "swallowing" discretionary or pork barrel funds, and that the COA should concern itself with that. 

“This Romualdez, Speaker, ‘yan ang—sige bigay ng ano sa congressman, pinabusog niya lahat. Pero sabi ko mag-audit tayo [he gives to congressmen, he filled their bellies. But I say let’s have an audit] because Speaker is poised to be or to run for president,” Duterte added.

Velasco said that the House has no confidential and intelligence funds, which are subject to audit but audit findings are not available to the public.

“All line items in our budget are subject to regular accounting and auditing rules and regulations. Our books are always open to COA,” he said.

The House earlier realigned the proposed confidential funds of the OVP, DepEd, and two other agencies, worth P1.23 billion, to agencies directly in charge of ensuring national security:

• P300 million to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency;
• P100 million to the National Security Council;
• P200 million to the Philippine Coast Guard for intelligence activities and ammunition; and
• P381.8 million to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for airport development/expansion of Pag-asa Island Airport 

Vice President Duterte, for her part, earlier said those against the confidential fund are against peace and are enemies of the state.

Also on Tuesday, Senate Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. issued a statement that the Senate has no confidential funds for this year, in response to social media posts claiming the Senate President had P331.9 million in confidential funds. Among those making the claim was lawyer Harry Roque, who was Palace spokesperson under the elder Duterte. — BM, GMA Integrated News