Romualdez: House probes on public funds, spending slated

Committees of the House of Representatives in the coming weeks are slated to hold hearings on how public funds are spent for the people, Speaker Martin Romualdez said on Monday.

Romualdez's pronouncement came with just 12 sessions days left before Congress adjourned its session to give way to the campaign period for Eleksyon 2025.

“Good governance demands transparency and accountability. This chamber is the vanguard of that principle. In the coming weeks, we will hold oversight hearings to ensure that the people’s money serves the people’s needs,” Romualdez said.

Romualdez said House inquiries on the following topics have been set:

• the smuggling and hoarding of basic commodities;
• the P206 billion in disallowed expenditures by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines;
• the P11.18 billion worth of expired medicines and underutilized Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) fund; and
• the alleged misuse of confidential funds

“Let this be our promise: public trust is sacred, and this House will never betray it,” Romualdez said.

In addition, Romualdez said the House was unfazed by critics of legislative inquiries.

“In this chamber, our leadership must always be guided by a singular question, how does this serve the Filipino? Hindi tayo aatras sa anumang laban para sa bayan,” he added.

(We will not withdraw from any fight for the country.) —NB, GMA Integrated News