House won't back down amid threats over P1.23-B confidential fund realignment

The House of Representatives will not back down from intimidation and threats in connection with its move to strip civilian agencies of P1.23 billion worth of confidential funds under the proposed 2024 budget, Deputy Majority Leader Franz Pumaren said Monday.

Pumaren issued the statement in response to the comments made by former President Rodrigo Duterte that the Commission on Audit should check Speaker Martin Romualdez’s public spending since the latter “fattens the bellies” of House members, on top of saying that he wants to kill Deputy Minority Leader France Castro for allegedly being communist.

Duterte made the comments in defending the P650 million confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President and P150 million to the Department of Education both headed by his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Threats and intimidation will not get their desired effect on members of the chamber if the goal is to reconsider its decision to realign some P1.23 billion in confidential funds in the 2024 national budget. As the good former president should know, we, as lawmakers duly elected by our respective constituents to represent their interests, do not respond well to threats and intimidation,” Pumaren said.

“If his allegations have basis, then he should go to the proper channels and file charges. But to insinuate bodily harm or even the murder of a member of the House of Representatives, this has gone too far,” he added.

Pumaren then called on the former president to restrain himself since the House’s decision to realign the P1.23 billion confidential fund is a matter of doing its job, not a personal attack.

“The decision to realign the Vice President’s confidential funds is nothing personal, as several other agencies also faced the same redistribution. If the former president thinks this is wrong, our doors are always open in the House of Representatives for dialogue,” the lawmaker pointed out.

“We urge the former president to be cautious and reasonable in his criticisms. There are more peaceful and effective ways to send his message,” he added.

The P1.23 billion in confidential funds were realigned by the House to the  following agencies:

• National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (P300 million);
• National Security Council (P100 million);
• Philippine Coast Guard (P200 million);
• Department of Transportation (P351 million);
• DepEd's Government Assistance to Students and Teachers (P150 million);
• DICT's Cybercrime Prevention, Investigation and Coordination Program (P25 million);
• Department of Foreign Affairs operations (P30 million);
• Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources' Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (P30 million); and
• Office of the Ombudsman's Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (P50.4 million).

Prior to Pumaren’s statement, leaders of various political parties already denounced former president Duterte’s comments on wanting to kill Castro.

Castro, in a statement on Monday, thanked her colleagues for the support.

"I am grateful for the support and solidarity shown by House Speaker [Martin] Romualdez and other party leaders during this challenging time. Their unwavering commitment to the safety and security of all lawmakers is commendable," Castro, who lost her father last week, said.

“This incident is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by those who dare to speak up and fight for the rights and welfare of the Filipino people. It is crucial that we continue to uphold freedom of expression and protect the voices of dissent in our democracy,” she added.

Castro then said it is also important for Congress to address such impunity by prioritizing legislation that strengthens the protection of human rights defenders and ensures their safety.

"We must work together to create an environment where lawmakers and activists can carry out their duties and advocacy without fear of reprisal. It is our responsibility to safeguard the democratic space and protect those who champion the rights of the marginalized and vulnerable," she said.

“I hope that this incident will serve as a catalyst for renewed efforts in promoting human rights, democracy, and justice in the country,” she added.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said Duterte’s statement on House as a rotten institution and remarks on Castro should be addressed squarely because it is a clear threat.

“If you check on the video, there is a threat na patayin si Congresswoman Castro. Nakakasakit na iyon, nakakasakit ng loob na isang active member ng House of Representatives tine-threaten ng ganun,” Velasco said in an interview with reporters

(There is a threat to kill Congresswoman Castro. It is offensive, it is heartbreaking that an active member of the House is being threatened like that.)

“We are being audited already...and there is a threat of People Power, that if we do not subject ourselves to auditing procedures, he will call on businessmen, military, that was a threat. It came from him (former President Duterte),” he added.

Former senator and Magdalo group chairman Antonio Trillanes IV, for his part, said that Duterte’s explicit threat on Castro should prompt the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue its probe on the former president’s alleged crimes against humanity due to the implementation of the government’s bloody drug war.

“We, the Magdalo group, are urging the Marcos administration to allow the ICC investigators into the country in order to make ex-president Rodrigo Duterte accountable for his crimes against humanity. This is in light of Mr. Duterte's recent public admission that he used his Confidential/Intelligence funds to conduct extra-judicial killings on his constituents in Davao City when he was still its mayor,” he said.

“Being the original filers of the ICC case in 2017, we have witnessed and documented the barbaric actions of the past administration, as well as the trauma and hardships that the thousands of victims and their families have suffered. Truly, justice is long overdue,” he added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News