Capas mayor gives up confidential fund, cites Robredo’s example

Roseller “Boots” Rodriguez —JUN A. MALIG

CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines—Mayor Roseller “Boots” Rodriguez of Capas town in Tarlac province drew inspiration from former Vice President and now Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo in deciding to forgo his office’s confidential fund—something he had only recently realized was possible.

“I saw former Vice President Leni in the news, scrapping her confidential fund as Naga City mayor. I told myself, ‘Pwede palang alisin ang confidential fund, akala ko fixed ito at hindi pwedeng i-scrap. Pwede pala,’ (I realized that the confidential fund can actually be removed. I thought it was fixed and couldn’t be scrapped. But it turns out, it can be scrapped), ”he told the Inquirer in a recent interview.

Rodriguez, who won a second term in May, made the announcement during the inaugural session of the Capas municipal council on July 8.

Fight vs drugs

Before town officials, municipal employees, and village chiefs, he declared he would forgo his P8-million confidential fund for 2026 and has directed the local finance committee to remove the expense from the town’s annual budget, drawing applause from the crowd.

According to Rodriguez, his office has been allocated P8 million in confidential funds since his first term election in 2022, which was mainly used to support police efforts and anticriminality initiatives, particularly against illegal drugs.

However, he said their antidrug campaign had not been as effective as intended: “For example, even if we arrested all drug pushers in Capas, drug pushers from nearby towns would still come and do their illegal acts in our town. This is because the effort is not a centralized or a national simultaneous action. ’Yung mga kriminal at drug pushers palipat-lipat lang ng lugar (The criminals and drug pushers only change places),” he said.

Rodriguez said he eventually saw the overlap between the confidential fund and the municipal government-funded Peace and Order and Public Safety Plan (POPS).

Redundancy

“Because I saw the redundancy with POPS and realized that allocating my confidential fund to police operations and related matters was not as effective as intended, I decided to realign this to much-needed social services for the elderly and public school students,” the mayor said.

Rodriguez stressed his decision was not meant to set an example or pressure other local officials.

“It’s just a question or a matter of priority. I’ve learned from our local finance committee that more funds are needed in order to increase our social pensioners from 2,327 this year to the planned 5,000 next year. More funds are also needed for the school supplies of public school students,” he said.

The mayor said every town or city has unique challenges, and for Capas, realigning the confidential fund for other uses until his term ends in 2028 is what is best for his town.

“That decision is mine alone, and I did it because this is what my hometown needs,” he said.

Rodriguez, a lawyer and graduate of the University of the East, served three terms as vice mayor before winning as mayor in 2022. INQ