By Junex Doronio
NO OMERTA, SO IT SEEMS, between former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his eldest daughter Vice President Sara Duterte as the ex-Chief Executive has belatedly revealed that Inday Sara, after all, only intended to use her offices’ proposed P650-million confidential and intelligence funds to revive the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program in the country.
Omerta is the reputed code of silence among syndicate members.
But on Tuesday, October 10, the House of Representatives led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez removed P1.23 billion worth of confidential funds from five agencies, including the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), under the proposed P5.768-trillion budget for 2024.
“Binasa ko ang rationale. Ang plano niya—unahan ko na lang, so I’m sorry I have to divulge this because binigay mo naman sa’kin, then I just make it public—gamitin niya ang pera, it’s only P125 million, gamitin niya sa mga BMT, palakasin niya sa high school, pati ibalik talaga niya ang ROTC. Ipilit niya. Make it compulsory,” the former president said in an interview on SMNI Tuesday evening.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) is seeking P500 million worth of confidential funds for fiscal year 2024. On top of this, the Department of Education (DepEd), which VP Sara also heads as Secretary, also proposed P150 million confidential funds for next year.
The elder Duterte claimed that he asked his daughter for a copy of the document regarding her proposed intelligence funds when they met during the inurnment ceremony for his sister in Davao City over the weekend.
VP Sara has notably been pushing for the revival of the mandatory ROTC, more than two decades after the program was scrapped in 2002 due to reported abuses and cases of hazing.
(ai/mnm)