Bersamin faces Senate panel to defend OP’s P10.707B proposed budget for 2024

MANILA, Philippines — Acting for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Wednesday faced the Senate committee on finance to defend the Office of the President’s (OP) proposed allocation for 2024.

Marcos’ office is seeking P10.707 billion in funds for the next fiscal year. Hidden in this budget is a whopping P4.56 billion in confidential and intelligence funds.

Under the proposed P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024, P10 billion is allocated for confidential and intelligence funds for various government agencies.

But a quick look into the proposed National Expenditure Program for next year would show that OP will receive almost half of this confidential funding.

Prior to the committee’s deliberations on the OP’s budget for 2024, several lawmakers have already raised their concerns on the use of confidential and intelligence funds among civilian agencies.

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III specifically pointed out that OP’s confidential budget must be reduced while its intel funds should be eliminated, noting that OP is a “civilian agency which is not and should not engage in intelligence.”

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