House removes confidential funds for OVP, DepEd, 3 other agencies | The Final Word - video Dailymotion

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Zero. That's the amount of confidential funds the office of the vice president and four other agencies will receive under the 2024 budget bill as announced by a small panel of house lawmakers.  Xianne Arcangel has the details.   Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/  Follow our social media pages:  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines

Transcript

00:00 The 2024 General Appropriations Bill is approved on third and final reading.

00:06 Two weeks after passing the proposed 5.768 trillion peso budget for 2024,

00:13 the House of Representatives realigned P194 billion pesos to augment funds of certain agencies.

00:20 A four-member panel composed of House leaders decided whether to add or reduce funding for

00:25 government projects. Among the agencies that benefited from the realignment

00:29 were the Agriculture Department, National Irrigation Administration,

00:33 Health Department, and Commission on Higher Education.

00:36 The Social Welfare and Development Department will receive an additional P35 billion pesos,

00:41 while the Labor and Employment Department's budget will increase by almost P28 billion pesos.

00:47 The committee also realigned P1.2 billion pesos out of the total P4.8 billion pesos

00:53 in confidential funds sought by the executive branch.

00:56 The Office of the Vice President and the Departments of Education, Information and Communications,

01:03 Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs are getting zero confidential funds under the 2024

01:11 General Appropriations Bill. We believe that the House of Representatives is on the right side of

01:16 history. The confidential funds removed from select civilian agencies will instead go to

01:22 agencies focused on the West Philippine Sea, such as the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency,

01:28 National Security Council, and the Philippine Coast Guard.

01:31 Lawmakers also allotted nearly P400 million pesos for the improvement of the airport on

01:37 Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea. The P150 million confidential fund requested by the

01:43 Education Department has been realigned to its allocation for maintenance and operating expenses.

01:49 The confidential funds requested by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources,

01:53 Office of the Ombudsman, DFA, and DICT were also converted into MOOE budgets. Kimbo explains,

02:01 "If surveillance is not necessary, and MOOE can be used,

02:11 which means that the expenses are auditable, we prefer that the expenses are like that."

02:18 Kimbo says not all confidential funds were removed since some agencies,

02:23 like the Justice Department, need the allocation for intelligence gathering and surveillance.

02:28 While the 2024 budget has yet to hurdle the Senate, House lawmakers are confident

02:34 senators will back the realignment of confidential funds.

02:37 They also deny that Congress has over a billion pesos in secret allocations.

02:42 "Congress does not have confidential funds. The 1.6 billion pesos they say are extraordinary

02:50 expenses. The extraordinary is fully auditable, which is different from confidential."

02:56 "In short, that's fake news."

02:58 The House will start printing the amended budget anytime soon

03:02 so copies can be transmitted to the Senate before the end of the month.

03:06 See you on Arkanghel, CNN Philippines.

House removes confidential funds for OVP, DepEd, 3 other agencies | The Final Word

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