Senate approves OP’s P8.9-B proposed budget for 2023

The Senate on Thursday approved the Office of the President's P8.9-billion proposed budget for 2023.
 
The approved funding includes P4.5 billion in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).
 
Only Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III scrutinized the budget of the president's office.
 
Pimentel's interpellation focused on the CIF, as he questioned the necessity of allocating billions of pesos to the OP's intelligence fund when there are security agencies that are tasked with gathering confidential information.
 
He manifested that he will seek to reduce the amount of CIF requested by the OP.
 
The proposed budgets for the offices under the OP were likewise approved, except for the Presidential Management Staff.
 
Pimentel was supposed to look into the budget of the PMS. However, there were no representatives from the PMS, as they were assisting President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in his participation at the ongoing ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.
 
The proposed budgets of the following departments were also approved:
 
-Department of Justice and its attached agencies
-Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and its attached agencies
-Department of Energy
 
The proposed budgets of the following agencies were considered approved as there were no senators who wanted to interpellate:
 
-Commission on Human Rights
-Human Rights Violations Victims' Memorial Commission
-Dangerous Drugs Board
-Mindanao Development Authority
-Movie and Television Review and Classification Board
-National Historical Commission of the Philippines
-National Intelligence Coordinating Agency
-National Library of the Philippines
-National Archives of the Philippines
-Philippine Competition Commission
-Presidential Legislative Liaison Office
-Credit Information Corporation
-Cultural Center of the Philippines
-Inter-Country Adoption Board
-National Council on Disability Affairs
-Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor
-Advanced Science and Technology Institution
-Food and Nutrition Research Institute
-Metals Industry Research and Development Center
-National Academy of Science and Technology
-National Research Council of the Philippines
-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development
-Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
-Philippine Science High School
-Science Education Institute
-Science and Technology Information Institute
-Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care
-National Commission on Muslim Filipinos
-Philippine Public Safety College
-Intramuros Administration
-National Parks Development Committee
-Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving
-Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations
-Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority
-Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity
-Film Development Council of the Philippines
-National Commission for Culture and the Arts
-Development Academy of the Philippines

—VBL, GMA Integrated News