July 17 2023 House of Representatives Sec. General Reginald Velasco shows the president’s seat at a holding room at the Congress as preparations for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s second State of the Nation on July 24 nears completion, with the PNP announcing it will deploy some 5,000 to 6,000 police officers as the President delivers his annual address.
INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco has maintained that funds for extraordinary expenses allocated to each lawmaker are not confidential (CF), saying that these are auditable, unlike the latter.
Velasco made the clarification again after being asked in an ambush interview about accusations that lawmakers are not submitting receipts for the public affairs fund worth over P860 million — which were allegedly being given to media workers covering the House.
According to Velasco, lawmakers are entitled to have funds for public relations, but these are not confidential funds that cannot be audited fully.
“Well alam mo naman syempre kasama rin yan ng trabaho ng congressman, how do they deal with their constituents. Hindi lang naman yung House leadership yan, every congressman is entitled to, and we call it public relations. If you notice, it falls under extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses. One of the items there is public relations,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
(Well, you know, of course, that is part of the congressman’s job, how do they deal with their constituents. It’s not only with the House leadership, and every congressman is entitled to, we call it, public relations.)
“Well we don’t call it confidential eh, miscellaneous and extraordinary expenses. ‘Yon ‘yong mga hindi mo mareresibuhan. Kunwari pinakain namin kayo, di ba. Alangan naman hihingan ko kayo ng certification na nag merienda kayo ngayon at hindi kayo nagbayad,” he added.
(These are the expenses you cannot issue individual receipts. For example, we served food to you, right? Would I ask for certification from you that you were given snacks and did not pay for them?)
Velasco also clarified that public relations has a lot of meanings, noting that it would eventually entail informing a lawmaker’s constituents about the projects being done and where the funds have been allocated.
“Seriously, public affairs kasi ang daming ibig sabihin no’n eh. Public relations, service to the constituents, ‘di ba. Informing your constituents. May gastos ka dyan. So ‘yon,” he explained.
(Seriously, public affairs has a lot of different meanings. Public relations, service to the constituents, right? Informing your constituents. You would have to spend funds there, so that’s it.)
“Lahat yan, audited yan. As you know, lahat ng miscellaneous and extraordinary expenses namin, monthly ina-audit ng COA. And we have passed all of these auditing requirements,” he added.
(All of these are audited. As you know, all of our miscellaneous and extraordinary expenses are being audited by COA (Commission on Audit). And we have passed all of these auditing requirements.)
Audit of the House’s books has been a call of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s supporters after the former leader criticized the legislative chamber for allegedly being the ‘most rotten government organization’.
In a previous interview with Sonshine Media Network International, Duterte claimed that the House had a pork barrel, which Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez supposedly distributes to lawmakers. Velasco and ranking House members denied this, saying that the pork barrel has been outlawed, and the funds with Congress are for extraordinary expenses.
Last October 11, Velasco also assured the former president that the COA has not given the House any notice of disallowance, which may indicate problems with how funds are being spent.
READ: ‘We pass COA audit’: House Sec Gen on Duterte’s tirade on House being rotten
READ: Solon urges ex-president Duterte to file raps if he can prove House is rotten
Duterte made the accusation after the House ultimately decided to remove the confidential fund requests for 2024 of the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education — two offices headed by the former president’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.
Last Monday, former president Duterte doubled down on his dare for the House to be audited, saying this would ensure the chamber’s integrity.
“The safest way to do it if you are really, kung diskumpyado kayo at kayo naman d’yan sa Congress, then we can go into an audit para malaman natin, malaman ng taumbayan,” he said.
(The safest way to do it is, if the public is suspicious of you in Congress, we can go into an audit so that the public would know the truth.)
READ: House gives zero confidential funds to OVP, DepEd, DICT, DFA, DA
“I was once a member of Congress, so mas que saan, no’ng presidente ako, the usual is let’s go into an audit and make it public para walang sabi mo, tinatago. ‘Yon kasing audit hindi naman pina-publish eh, but if there is something wrong, then we can always demand the information given to the public because under the Constitution, the right to be informed is sacred,” he added.
(I was once a member of Congress, so even when I was president, the usual thing to do in these cases is to go into an audit and make it public so that nothing is hidden. Audits are not being published, but if something is wrong, we can always demand the information given to the public because, under the Constitution, the right to be informed is sacred.)