PIMENTEL SEEKS AUGMENTATION OF INTELLIGENCE
FUNDS OF AFP AND PNP BY REDUCING SHARE OF OP

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today called for the reduction of the P650 million intelligence fund of the Office of the President and the realignment of the slashed portion to the major services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the law enforcement agencies, including the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police.

Pimentel said he found no justification to put the bulk of the government's P1.2 billion intelligence fund in the Office of the President since it is not directly involved in intelligence gathering.

He said the minority bloc will move for the reallocation of the intelligence fund through an amendment to the 2008 general appropriations bill.

"Basically, I have some reservations about the huge intelligence fund at the disposal of the President because she is not an intelligence gatherer. The Office of the President is supposed to be the assessor of the intelligence that is being gathered," the minority leader said.

"I believe that as a matter of policy, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation -- the intelligence services of these units -- should be correspondingly funded," Pimentel said.

He said it defies logic that the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines has a small intelligence fund of P151.6 million in proportion to that of the Office of the President, considering that the DND and AFP are at the forefront of combatting insurgencies and defending the republic from external security threats.

"I have no problem with the allotment of the intelligence funds for the DND-AFP. As a matter of fact, I think this amount is rather miniscule considering the work that the DND is doing. As a matter of fact, if there is a way to increase it somehow, I will support such move," Pimentel added.

The P151.6 million intelligence fund of the DND-AFP is distributed as follows:

Office of the Secretary of the DND, P33 million; AFP, P118.6 million.

Philippine Army, P24 million; Philippine Air Force, P6.2 million; Philippine Navy, P24.7 million; and AFP general headquarters, P34.7 million.