Duterte to let Senate probe DICT’s confidential fund

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte will leave the fate of the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) controversial disbursement of intelligence and confidential funds to the Senate, Malacañang said Friday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte would first let the Senate conduct its investigation into the confidential funds appropriated to the DICT before ordering a possible presidential probe.

“He (Duterte) will observe the Senate hearing on its investigation to (resigned DICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr.’s) allegations,” Panelo said in a text message.

The DICT received confidential funds worth PHP400 million and PHP800 million in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson, close friends of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio Honasan II, have filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into the use of intelligence and confidential funds allocated to several government agencies, including DICT.

In an Audit Observation Memorandum dated January 20, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the agency’s supposedly irregular release of PHP100 million each on November 8, December 3, and December 17 last year as “cash advance for confidential expenses in connection with cybersecurity activities.”

The COA also noted that the funds were released without the required notice of cash allotment from the budget department.

The state audit agency’s findings were followed by Rio’s resignation on January 31, who quit due to his apparent tiff with new DICT officials and questioned the grant of the agency’s intelligence and confidential funds.

Panelo said the President has yet to act on Rio’s resignation.

He added that Duterte also expressed openness to hearing the resigned DICT official’s sentiments.

“As to Rio, his (Duterte’s) office has received the resignation letter but he has not read it,” Panelo said. “As to the allegations of Rio, he will listen to him when they meet but (there is) no schedule yet.”

In a joint statement on Friday, Honasan and Rio agreed to settle their differences to remove any doubts the people may have over the confidential funds disbursed to DICT.

The DICT said Rio “never mentioned” any anomaly in the disbursement of the department’s confidential fund and that its inclusion in the agency’s budget were previously proposed by Rio himself.

“It was Undersecretary Rio, at the time, who proposed the inclusion of the Confidential Expense item in the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA), and he also signed the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for it,” the statement read.

The DICT said Rio’s resignation, which he claimed was due to him being underutilized and bypassed on operational matters by DICT officials appointed by Honasan, was due to personal reasons and not due to any rift with Honasan.

“Undersecretary Rio’s resignation was due to personal reasons, and not due to any rift with the Secretary, nor to any anomaly in the Confidential Expense,” the DICT said.

It added that Rio’s misgivings on the DICT’s confidential fund were his “own personal views and not that of the Department.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the DICT said the confidential fund, disbursed in three tranches of PHP100 million, was legitimately used in ensuring the country’s cybersecurity and to render technical assistance to law enforcement bodies and other government agencies.

It added that the COA previously flagged the confidential fund because of “procedural” issues which have been addressed since.

“We again assure the public that the Confidential Expense was legitimately used for our country’s cybersecurity and the protection of our national security,” Honasan and Rio said.

“Rest assured that proper procedures were followed, and the disbursements were regular, and duly liquidated in accordance with applicable accounting and auditing laws, rules, and regulations,” they added. (with reports from Raymond Carl dela Cruz/PNA)