MANILA – The proposed P1.5 billion increase in the budget of President Rodrigo Duterte’s office is necessary in order to provide efficient, meaningful and effective public service to the Filipino people, according to Malacañang.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement said the President needs additional funding as it extends a helping hand and augment whatever shortage there may be in delivering the requisite assistance.
“The Palace reiterates that the increase in the budget of the Office of the President, where the seat of power and supremacy in governance lies, is necessary in order to provide efficient, meaningful and effective public service to the Filipino people,” Panelo said.
In the 2020 national budget proposal, the administration has proposed a P8.2 billion budget for the Office of the President next year; way higher than last year’s P6.7 billion budgets.
“The intensified efforts of this government, with the Office of the President at the helm, against criminality and various perils against the Philippines’ security and sovereignty have indeed created a changed environment in our society where the people feel safe as they go about living their daily lives,” he added.
The Office of the President wants P2.25 billion allotted each for its confidential and intelligence expenses, totaling P4.5 billion, almost twice the amounts for last year and this year.
The amount Duterte’s office requested in 2018 and 2019 was at P2.5 billion in each of those years, split between confidential and intelligence expenses at P1.25 billion each.
Meanwhile, Department of Budget and Management acting secretary Wendel Avisado said that the increase in intelligence funds sought by the Office of the President for 2020 is justified.
“And the ongoing support that we’re giving out to BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) and the normalization program so that we’ll be able to institutionalize what is required of us to do to obtain and achieve lasting peace and progress in Mindanao,” Avisado said./PN
