Solons question disbursement of P22M Batocabe slay bounty

MANILA, Philippines — Where did the P22 million bounty on the killers of former Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe go?

This was the question raised by several lawmakers on Wednesday during the House public accounts committee meeting on the disbursement of P35-million bounty contributed by the House of Representatives, President Rodrigo Duterte’s office and the Albay provincial government.

PNP officials attend today’s hearing of the House public accounts committee to brief the panel of the disbursement of the P35-million bounty for the witnesses relative to the murder of former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Botacabe. @inquirerdotnet pic.twitter.com/dZWz5dlsl0

— Daphne Galvez (@daphnegalvez_) November 20, 2019

For the bounty, the Office of the President gave P20 million, the House gave P13 million, and the provincial government of Albay gave P2 million, totaling to P35 million.

During the hearing, Acting Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Director Gen. Joel Napoleon Coronel said P6 million was already given to one witness and another P7 million were shared by seven other witnesses — only P13 million accounted for in the disbursement of the bounty.

Meanwhile, he added that the P2 million from the Albay government has already been remitted to the province’s police provincial director; however, the details of its disbursement are still unknown.

Coronel also said that the PNP has no record of the disbursement and liquidation of the remaining P20 million reward money.

“I think this will relate to the amount released by the Office of the President (OP). Records on the distribution and liquidation of which were submitted directly to the OP and I do not have the records, it did not pass through the CIDG,” Coronel said.

Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel said that the police provincial director of Albay should be invited to the next committee hearing to detail the disbursement of the P2 million.

He also proposed that the hearing be upgraded to a congressional inquiry to determine where the P20 million bounty went.

“We should conduct an inquiry kung saan napunta yung P20 million because this is taxpayers’ money. We have every right to know where this went. Kailangan makita natin san napunta yung P20 million plus P2 million,” Pimentel said.

(We should conduct an inquiry on where the P20 million went because this is taxpayers’ money. We have every right to know where this went. We should know where the P20 million plus P2 million went.)

The Surigao del Sur lawmaker also proposed that former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde be summoned the next hearing, considering that it was during his leadership when the bounty was turned over.

The meeting moved into an executive session to hear the testimony of the witnesses of the Batocabe slay and to entertain questions for them.

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Edited by JE