By Liza Soriano
TWO senators want to realign the P50-million confidential funds of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to anti-smuggling bodies to address this issue.
This was the statement of Senators Cynthia Villar and Raffy Tulfo after learning that the DA was given millions of confidential funds under the National Expenditure’s Program (NEP).
According to Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, P50-M will be allocated for “enforcement” and “smuggling.”
Tulfo questioned this and said that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) should be the agency to respond to smuggling.
“I-surrender ninyo na lang po at ibigay ninyo na lang po sa ibang mga agency na nangangailangan tulad ng Coast Guard. Siguro kailangan natin dahil palaging nagkakaproblema tayo sa West Philippine Sea,” Tulfo said.
Villar supported Tulfo’s statement and added that it is not within the DA’s mandate to address smuggling.
“The enforcement agency against smuggler and cartel…would be coming from the law enforcement agency, not DA,” the senator said.
(ai/mnm)
(by Dang Samson Garcia)
SENATOR Raffy Tulfo called on the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to monitor its graduates and ensure that they receive proper wages.
TESDA Director General Suharto Mangudadato admitted that there are TESDA graduates who are receiving below minimum wage.
During Wednesday’s hearing of the Finance Subcommittee G on TESDA’s P15.2 billion proposed budget for 2024,
Tulfo asked TESDA officials to coordinate with the Department of Labor and Employment and report all employers that violate the law.
“Why do you allow your graduates, after landing a job, to receive below minimum wage? We have a law,” Tulfo said.
“Whether you are a graduate or undergraduate, or TESDA graduate, it should not be below minimum,” he added.
“I have been fighting for that for the past 20 years that all our workers should be on minimum wage, why do you agree? Don’t allow that,” the senator said.