PNP’s ‘bloated’ budget for personnel exposed
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Franklin Drilon on Monday exposed what appeared to be a “bloated” budget of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for its personnel.
At the hearing of the Senate finance committee, which he chairs, Drilon noted the P4.897 billion budget under the PNP’s miscellaneous personnel benefit fund (MPBF) for unfilled positions as of December 2010.
If the PNP would spend P260,000 to hire a new personnel, then the MPBF budget would mean 18,834 unfilled positions as of December 2010, apart from the 3,000 quota that the PNP has to hire this year and another 3,000 in 2012.
“There must be an overstatement in your MPBF for the PNP. Why is there P4.897 billion (for unfilled) positions in the MPBF?” asked Drilon.
But citing their own records, PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo said the unfilled positions as of December 2010 were only more than 8,000 and they filled up over 6,000 as of July 2011.
“And we still have 2,000 more to be filled up plus our 3,000 regular quota given to us so it’s about 5,000,” he pointed out.
And per record of his comptroller, Bacalzo said, the P2 billion in the MPBF was for the longevity pay of their personnel in 2012 while the P2.8 billion was for the payment of 5,234 unfilled positions.
But Drilon said, “That does not jive because your 2012 budget already carries for 3,000 new positions.”
He said the budget could not also be used for longevity pay because the MPBF was supposed to be used for all unfilled positions only.
“Now you’re telling me it’s for longevity? How can there be longevity for new hires?” the senator asked.
Bacalzo gave in and promised Drilon that he would re-compute the agency’s allocation for unfilled positions.
Unless properly explained, Drilon said it would appear to him the PNP’s budget for personnel was ‘bloated.’
“They’re saying this is not accurate, that there’s an explanation for this. We will await this explanation because unless properly explained, it would it would appear to me to be a bloated budget for personnel as we can’t possibly imagine the PNP being able to hire 25,000 for the next 16 months ending December 2012,” he said during a press conference after the hearing.
“Something is erroneous with this figure because if this is correct, then the budget has been bloated for the last several years,” he added.
