Lacson wants probe on P60M unreleased SAF funds

Sen. Panfilo Lacson. 

Senator Panfilo Lacson is seeking a separate Senate into the reported P59.8-million unreleased daily allowances of Special Action Force (SAF) troopers.

Plunder and malversation charges have been filed against former SAF officials over the fund mess. Meanwhile, outgoing police chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, has ordered the relief of Director Benjamin Lusad, former head of the SAF Directorate for Integrated Police Operations.

READ: PNP chief sacks former SAF official over alleged fund misuse

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/983036/pnp-chief-sacks-former-saf-head-over-alleged-misuse-of-funds

On Tuesday, Lacson filed Senate Resolution No. 712, directing the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, which he chairs, to look into the controversy.

He said SAF members had approached him and aired their grievances on the matter and furnished his office a copy of their complaint affidavit filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“We cannot allow, yet again, another injustice to be committed against our heroes in uniform,” Lacson said, referring to the SAF “who are in the forefront of our fight against the ills of terrorism and criminality.”

In calling for an investigation, Lacson, who was PNP chief from 1999 to 2000, said he wanted to avoid demoralization within the ranks of the SAF.

In addition to the regular allowances of policemen, he said, SAF troopers are entitled to a daily additional subsistence allowance (ASA) of P30 a day or P900 a month, and allocations for Explosive Ordinance Disposal Hazardous Pay. The allowance is usually given by the unit’s finance sergeant every quarter.

But based on various news reports, the 4,000 SAF members supposedly got only their share of ASA for January 2016 and January to July 2017. The money supposedly went to operations of SAF troopers at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and in Marawi City.

In July 2016, the PNP deployed 320 SAF members to the NBP to check the reported drug trade in the prison. In May 2017, members of the elite police unit were sent to fight Islamic terrorists in Marawi City.

READ: Bato brings SAF to Bilibid, taunts VIP inmate: Do a song for me

“The said unlawful withholding of said funds, if true, constitutes a criminal or unlawful act and runs counter to the evident policy of the President to increase the pay of our military and uniformed personnel in order to repay them for their sacrifices,” Lacson said.

He said the Senate probe would seek to propose remedial legislation “to correct the (problem) and put a stop to this unlawful practice to the prejudice of the intended beneficiaries.”

There is also a need, he said, to revisit existing laws and their implementation to make sure police officers would receive the benefits due them and to punish the erring parties concerned. /cbb