Pimentel wants to slash budget

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. sought yesterday a huge reduction in the Malacañang-proposed P907 billion 2005 national budget as part of the solution to the fiscal crisis the nation is facing.

He said reducing the budget in real terms and keeping expenditures at a level that revenues can support could avert the fiscal crisis.

He said the budget can be cut substantially by scrapping all intelligence, confidential and discretionary funds of the President, Cabinet members, leaders of Congress, and other agency heads, and cutting all the pork barrel of the President, lawmakers, Cabinet officials, and other high-ranking bureaucrats.

Intelligence, confidential and discretionary funds in the budget amount to tens of billions. The President alone has an intelligence outlay of P500 million and an additional P150 million in confidential and discretionary fund. The Office of the Press Secretary has P10 million in intelligence money. — Jess Diaz