Opaque government budget
| FRONTLINE |
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| Ninez Cacho-Olivares |
The rationale behind the scrapping of intelligence funds in many government departments, so claimed Budget Secretary Butch Abad, was that these were not involved in any intelligence gathering, which does sound logical.
But it then must be asked why Noynoy has increased his intelligence funds by P200 million, bringing a total budget outlay for 2012 to some P600 million in intelligence funds for him alone, since the Office of the President certainly is far from being engaged in intelligence gathering.
At the same time, the intel budget for the Nica (National Intelligence Coordinating Agency), which is an intelligence agency and presumably into intel gathering, was slashed. So was the military intelligence budget when the Armed Forces of the Philippines, at least through the Intelligence Service of the AFP or Isafp, is into intelligence gathering. What then is the justification of slashing the AFP intel budget, while increasing the Philippine National Police and related agencies’ intelligence budget?
Even more glaring is the fact that while Noynoy had his intel budget increased by P200 million, it was reported that the Office of the Vice President’s intel budget was completely scrapped. Why then, if the Office of the President needs an additional P200 million for Noynoy’s intelligence funds, is the Budget secretary scrapping the intel funds of the Office of the Vice President?.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110829com2.html
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