MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has mandated the reinstatement of funding for the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) information technology (IT) program.
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Jonvic Remulla revealed that several PNP IT projects face substantial budget reductions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Among these projects are the Enhancement of the National Police Clearance System, which experienced a budget decrease from P600 million in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to P232 million; the Establishment of the Safe Camp Security System, which was cut from P472 million to P161 million; and the PNP Drug-Related Data Integration and Generation System, which saw its funding reduced from P533 million to P196 million.
Remulla noted that while these essential IT programs are underfunded, nearly P1 billion has been allocated for the acquisition of All-Terrain Amphibious Vehicles for the Bicol Region, along with an additional P500 million added to the PNP’s intelligence fund.
In light of this, Marcos directed Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman to restore the PNP’s IT program budget to its original figure and to eliminate the extra P500 million designated for the intelligence fund.
“As instructed by the President to our Budget Secretary, the IT budget will be reverted, and the additional P500 million intelligence fund included in the GAA will be removed. Thus, it will return to the original budget,” Remulla stated.
The restoration of the budget cuts and the removal of the intelligence fund will allow for the reallocation of resources to enhance and integrate the 911 emergency hotline system, according to Remulla.
The DILG chief emphasized that the additional intelligence fund for the PNP was not part of the discussions during the budget deliberations in Congress.
“They added it without prior discussion, which is why we are also puzzled and have requested its removal,” he remarked./PN
