(Eagle News) — Senator Leila de Lima is calling for a Senate inquiry into the alleged irregular use of P300 million in confidential and intelligence funds by the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
In filing Senate Resolution 321, De Lima said the Senate, “in the exercise of its oversight function, is now duty-bound to scrutinize how DICT made use of its confidential and intelligence funds, especially since such function is clearly absent in its mandate under the law.”
“If unchecked, confidential and intelligence funds, can be subjected to massive corruption due to its limited transparency. This, it must be strictly monitored and implemented in accordance with law,” she added.
De Lima filed the resolution after DICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio resigned from his post for what he said was the lack of transparency in the disbursement of the funds.
In a joint statement, however, both Rio and DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan said the word “anomaly” was never used by Rio in describing the disbursement of the Confidential Expense of the DICT.
Rio and Honasan said all confidential funds disbursed to the agency were “lawful and legitimate,” adding that ensuring privacy, security and confidentiality in ICT-related matters was part of the agency’s mandate.
