Saying the war on terror was a bigger concern than the war on drugs, opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV questioned the bigger intelligence budget given the Philippine National Police (PNP) than the Armed Forces and proposed to reverse it—the military getting more intelligence funds than the police.
Trillanes, a former Navy junior officer who was detained for mutiny, told defense and military officials on Thursday that the Armed Forces needed the bigger intelligence budget because he considered the fight against terrorism more important than the PNP’s bloody campaign against drugs.
At a hearing of a Senate finance subcommittee on the defense budget, Trillanes asked defense officials why they settled for only a P200-million increase in intelligence funds while the PNP was asking for P500 million more.
In the 2018 proposed national budget, the Department of Defense (DND) sought some P1.5 billion in intelligence funds.
Buying intelligence
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, subcommittee chair, said he agreed that the intelligence budget for the Armed Forces next year was insufficient.
“We really need to buy more intelligence information,” said Lacson.
Talking with reporters after the hearing, Lacson said the subcommittee would take up Trillanes’ proposal to realign some of the intelligence funds for the PNP to the Armed Forces of the Philippines when the proposed national budget reaches the Senate floor.
Lacson advised Trillanes, though, to discuss the matter with Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate finance committee.
During the subcommittee hearing, Trillanes asked defense and military officials: “Why did we not maximize it?”
Too small
Trillanes said the military’s intelligence funds looked miniscule compared with the PNP’s P500-million proposed intelligence budget, which he said “will go to Tokhang and we wouldn’t want that.”
He was referring to the PNP’s Oplan Tokhang, one of two antidrug campaigns by the PNP involving house-to-house searches for users and pushers.
“In light of the situation in Marawi, I think this is the bigger problem and you know that,” said Trillanes at the hearing.