Funds for martial law museum still available — DBM

Martial law victims and their families take an oath to continue fighting for the truth at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City on Thursday, June 30, 2022. They call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration not to stop the Freedom Memorial Museum’s construction. INQUIRER.net/Tetch Torres-Tupas

MANILA, Philippines — The funds for the martial law museum are still available, but it is not part of the national budget proposal for 2023, the Department of Budget and Management said.

The DBM made the clarification when an official of the Human Rights Violations Victims Memorial Commission (HRVVMC) revealed Thursday, during the House hearing on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) budget, that the next year’s budget has no special provision for the construction of a memorial for martial law victims.

“The special provisions that the Memorial Commission is referring to in the past budget years are all adjustments introduced by congress. It was not part of the national expenditure program submitted by the Department of Budget and Management even in the past years,” the DBM said in a statement on Thursday.

“Allow us to note that the fund for the Museum is categorized as ‘Trust Receipts,’ which means that the fund is still available to them,” it added.

DBM also noted that of the P381 million released to them in 2021, only P127 million was utilized, leaving a remaining balance of P254 million. The agency, citing the state-owned Landbank of the Philippines, said the remaining balance is still in their account.

“Since the said amount is a trust, then it is available until fully utilized subject to budgeting, accounting, and auditing rules and regulations,” the DBM further said.

The Freedom Memorial Museum, set to be constructed at the UP Diliman campus, will be under the supervision of the HRVVMC, an attached agency of the CHR.

JMS