Enemies of the nation

The plot thickens every day. Rody Duterte, the ex-president, suddenly emerged from retirement to come to the rescue of his daughter, vice president Sara Duterte, on the controversial secret funds issue.

He threatened ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, as well as progressives and communists, saying that he wants “to kill them softly.”

The elder Duterte made the threat when he appeared on Apollo Quiboloy’s SMNI’s “Gikan sa Masa” show but strangely, the video is no longer available on YouTube as of Thursday night.

But his main target, it seems, is House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the perceived political foe of VP Sara, saying he wants the Commission on Audit to subject Romualdez to a government audit when the Speaker runs for president.

The political landscape is heating up for sure, but isn’t it bizarre that the ex-president has been plucked out of retirement to join the fray on the confidential funds?

He opened his mouth once more soon after the Romualdez-led House of Representatives moved to realign the Vice President’s confidential funds worth P650 million to other agencies involved in security and intelligence work.

While it is not unusual for a parent to defend his or her son or daughter, the issue here is the use of taxpayers’ money.

In the past, former presidents would usually speak to provide wisdom when there is such a need, if say, the current state of affairs needed some intervention or wise counsel – like a sage of sorts or a Jedi Master like Yoda.

Instead, Rody being Rody unleashed his usual tirades against critics; dishing out death threats and other vertigo-inducing Dutertespeak.

But this time, he may be doing himself or the Duterte camp more harm than good because his calls for audit simply remind the public that he himself was not keen on being transparent.

Wasn’t his wealth undisclosed until the end of his term? He refused to show his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) when he was president.

How about the controversial Pharmally scandal during his administration?

Intelligent students, not intelligence funds

But let us not be distracted by the politics surrounding this issue.

The fact remains that many sectors in this nation of 114 million are desperately in need of additional funds – from state universities facing budget cuts, to poor quality of health services and to the deteriorating quality of education in the country.

We need to produce better and intelligent students instead of crying for more intelligence funds.

We have millions of students dropping out because of financial difficulties and a classroom backlog of 159,000 estimated at P397 billion.

I also find it worrisome that the Vice President branded as enemies of the nation the critics of the secret funds.

“Anyone who attacks or undermines funds allocated for peace and order is naturally assumed to have insidious motivations. Such actions go against the protection and well-being of our citizenry,” she said.

Right side of history

But isn’t realigning the budget to agencies involved in defending the West Philippine Sea a move that would defend the country’s sovereignty?

Rep. Stella A. Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the House appropriations committee, said that the following offices will get zero confidential funds: the Office of the Vice President and the Departments of Education (DepEd), Information and Communications (DICT), Agriculture (DA) and Foreign Affairs (DFA), under the 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

Instead, bulk of the funding will be channeled to agencies in charge of ensuring national security especially in the West Philippine Sea.

“We believe that the House of Representatives is on the right side of history. We are responding to the call of the times. And the volatile situation in the West Philippine Sea calls for immediate and decisive action to protect our national sovereignty,” Rep. Quimbo said.

Based on the panel’s recommendation, a total of P1.23 billion in confidential funds were realigned to the following frontline agencies in charge of monitoring and protecting the country’s territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea:

• P300 million for National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA);

• P100 million for the National Security Council (NSC);

• P200 million to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for intelligence activities and ammunition and

• P351.8 million to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for airport development/expansion of Pag-asa Island Airport.

Instead of confidential funds, the following agencies will receive the following amounts for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE):

• P30 million for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources;

• P25 million for DICT;

• P30 million for DFA;

• P50 million for the Office of the Ombudsman and

• P150 million for DepEd’s Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE).

Moving forward, we cannot be fixated on destroying whatever is left of the Left or use the group’s existence to justify the need for more intelligence funds.

Insurgency grows when people are hungry and desperate. It would be better to use funds to improve social services and education so that we may produce better citizens.

Moving forward, we must be vigilant not just on the use of confidential funds but on how every peso of taxpayers’ money is spent.

Our country has so much potential, yet we are hampered by the lack of or wrong use of funds, no thanks to rampant corruption, especially in the echelons of power.

We must allot more funds for research and education, health and food security.

And as I said, we need to produce better and intelligent students instead of crying for more intelligence funds.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.