TWO commissioners of the Commission on Elections critical of Chairman Juan Andres Bautista have asked the Senate to delete the P1-million intelligence fund from the body’s 2017 proposed budget being sought by the Comelec chairman.
Comelec commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Christian Robert Lim submitted a letter to Committee on Finance chairman Senator Loren Legarda urging her to remove the funds which they described as “unnecessary.”
“We hope you can help us ensure that no such confidential fund of any amount is included in our Comelec 2017 budget. It is unnecessary and can be a source of graft and corruption,” the letter dated October 24 said.
The two claimed the allocation should be removed in accordance with the policy adopted by the commission just last September 6.
“During our September 6 en banc meeting, presided by Commissioner Christian Lim, all six commissioners passed a resolution [with Chairman Bautista on official business], that as a matter of policy, the Commission does not want any confidential fund forming part of our budget,” the letter added.
They also claimed a confidential fund is not needed because the poll body has billions in savings.
“Comelec has billions in savings and if a confidential fund is a line item in the General Appropriations Act, the chairman can augment that fund from savings,” they said.
The Commission en banc learned the House of Representatives had approved the request of Bautista for the allotment of intelligence fund.
“To our knowledge, no confidential or intelligence fund was included in our budget, as approved or endorsed by the Department of Budget and Management. The information that a P1 million confidential fund was added came as a surprise,” the letter added.
The Comelec has a proposed budget of P3.3 billion for next year.
However, Bautista questioned the approved resolution seeking to delete the fund, saying he was not present when the decision was signed.
He questioned why the matter was discussed in the Sept. 6 en banc meeting even if it was not in the agenda.
“Common courtesy would have dictated that such a sensitive matter should have been discussed in the presence of the Chairman,” Bautista said in his Nov. 2 memorandum to Guanzon.
With this, he asked his fellow members of the Comelec en banc to discuss anew the said issue.
“Be that as it may, may I suggest this matter be taken up in an executive session, where all members of the En Banc are present,” Bautista said.
