Sen. Raffy Tulfo (Senate PRIB photos)
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Raffy Tulfo on Monday proposed to transfer of a portion of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) confidential fund to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP) and Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Tulfo raised the proposal during the Senate subcommittee on finance’s deliberations on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies.
The DOJ, including its attached agencies’ proposed budget for 2024 amounts to P34.486 billion. Below is the breakdown of the proposed budget of its attached agencies:
- NBI – P4.57 billion
- Bureau of Immigration – P4.24 billion
- Bureau of Corrections – P7.24 billion
- Parole and Probation Administration – P920 million
- Land Registration Authority – P1.21 billion
- Office of the Government Corporate Counsel – P233.26 million
- Office of the Solicitor General – P1.409 billion
- Presidential Commission on Good Government – P159.85 million
- Public Attorney’s Office – P5.275 billion
- Office for Alternative Dispute Resolution – P1.96 million
Tulfo particularly noted that the NBI’s proposed allocation is not enough.
“Wag sanang magalit ang DA, kasi noong last hearing, napansin kong meron silang P50 million confidential funds. Tinanong ko kung para saan [tapos] ang sabi ng taga DA ay to go after smugglers. Sabi ko nandyan naman ang Bureau of Customs (BOC), ang Philippine National Police (PNP), [o] NBI. Hindi masagot,” said Tulfo.
(I hope the DA doesn’t mind, because during the last hearing, I noticed that they have P50 million confidential fund. The DA official said the fund will be used to go after smugglers. I told them that the we already have the PNP, NBI and BOC.
“I’m proposing na medyo pumitas tayo sa budget ng DA sa confidential funds at i-transfer natin doon sa NBI. Siguro i-distribute [din] natin [sa] PNP [o] BOC. Nasa discretion niyo po ‘yon. Para sa akin kasi, it doesn’t make sense na ang DA ay magkakaroon ng confidential funds,” said Tulfo.
(I’m proposing that we slash the DA’s budget for confidential funds and transfer it to the NBI. Maybe we can also distribute to PNP or BOC. That’s at your discretion. For me, it doesn’t make sense that the DA would have confidential funds.)
Tulfo, during the chamber’s hearing on the proposed allocation of DA last October 5, proposed to strip the agency’s secret allocation if its only purpose is to combat anti-agricultural smuggling.
Meanwhile, DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said there is, indeed, a need to increase the budget of the cybercrime unit of the DOJ and NBI.
Remulla pointed out that the DOJ cybercrime office is only limited to only 20 people.
“Actually, if we are to follow the [standard] to have a Cybercrime Prosecutor Specialized, we will [need] at least 200 people for this, because 90 percent of crimes nowadays have cybercrime content,” said Remulla.
