Lacson belies fake quote card: Confidential funds also subject to audit
Former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. INQUIRER file photo
MANILA, Philippines — All public budgets, including confidential and intelligence funds, are accountable and subject to audit, former Sen. Pandfilo Lacson said Friday.
Lacson issued this remark to belie a quote card circulating online in which he was cited to have supposedly said that the disbursements of confidential and intelligence funds use codes and aliases to conceal the identities of persons involved in its utilization.
The fake quote card also claims that Lacson wants “Mary Grace Piattos” and “Kokoy Villamin” to remain a mystery – otherwise, the classified nature of the Office of the Vice President’s budget will no longer be confidential.
READ: ‘A bit too much:’ Lacson to scrutinize intel funds under Duterte’s office
Lacson said the quote card is fake and “obviously manipulated.”
“Having been exposed to liquidation procedures of intelligence funds due to my previous life as a law enforcer, let me stress that the basic premise is that all public funds – including intelligence funds – are accountable and subject to audit, with slight differences in the procedure of liquidation,” the former senator said in a statement Friday.
According to Lacson, public officials who seek to use confidential and intelligence funds must submit a proposal detailing how they intend to spend the money.
“While they may use codes or aliases to protect their informers, there should be a paper trail ensuring the informers’ identities can be verified. In short, there is no difference between regular and intelligence funds regarding being subject to audit. The difference lies merely in a matter of procedure,” he explained.
READ: COA told: Release info on Office of the President’s secret funds
Lacson also said members of the House of Representatives’ quad committee may have access to classified information, including “real identities of persons behind those codes or aliases” under existing laws.
Apart from this, the former senator, who is eyeing a return to the Senate via the May 2025 polls, said both chambers of Congress are mandated to ascertain that the General Appropriations Act it passed is appropriately spent.
“The scrutiny of public funds, including confidential and intelligence funds, must continue. Even if the amount being questioned is just P10, it is still public funds,” Lacson emphasized.
