Senator-Judge Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Wednesday flagged what he described as “copy-paste” programs in the Office of the Vice President’s regular budget and in its Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF).
Lacson said it was “stupid” to “copy-paste” or use virtually identical program descriptions and physical targets for its regular budget and CIF.
In Filipino: Lacson, Binuking ang Pag-‘Copy-Paste’ ng mga Programa sa Regular na Budget at Confidential-Intelligence Funds ng OVP
“Paulit-ulit ito. Kayo naman matalinong tao at witness, ano po ang analysis ninyo diyan? Very simply paano nyo analyze ganitong klaseng descriptions? Kung analyze ninyo di ba insulto sa common sense? Di nyo man binago kaunti, at least si Col. Lachica siguro ito (The same descriptions are repeated. You are an intelligent person and witness, what do you make of it? Very simply, how would you analyze these kinds of descriptions? Isn’t it an insult to common sense? If it were OVP security officer Col. Raymund Dante Lachica who prepared this, he could at least have differentiated them),” he said during his interjection with OVP assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ordonio.
In his interjection, Lacson cited figures from the 2022 and 2023 General Appropriations Act and compared them with the OVP’s physical and financial plans (PFPs) for its CIF.
The figures showed that in 2022, the OVP received P621.6 million under the GAA and P125 million in CIF in the fourth quarter of 2022 for its “good governance program.”
In 2023, the OVP received P2.21 billion under the GAA and P500 million in CIF – P125 million each quarter – for its “socio-economic program delivery.”
Lacson also noted that in its 2022 and 2023 PFPs, the OVP listed as its physical targets the “number of identified areas with surveillance conducted and monitored” and the “percentage of activities implemented without untoward security-related incidents.”
“Unang una, (sa) regular program, sana man lang pagdating sa PFP (CFI), binago nyo nomenclature. Tapos under the ‘Physical Target’ column sana man lang binago nyo ang activities. Copy-paste eh (First, in the regular program, you could have changed the nomenclature when you got to the CFI in the PFP. Then under the ‘Physical target’ column, you could have at least changed the activities. It’s copy-paste),” he told Ortonio.
“I think it’s stupid. Sana man lang binago-bago nang kaunti (I think it’s stupid to ‘copy-paste’ the program descriptions and physical targets of the regular budget and CIF. You could have at least differentiated them a little),” he added.
Lacson later made it clear that his use of the word “stupid” referred to the descriptions and nomenclatures of the PAPs, PFPs and physical targets, rather than to any person.
“I did not refer to a person but to the descriptions or nomenclatures of PAP’s, PFP’s and physical targets, so I and the presiding officer agree that there’s nothing wrong and offensive,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lacson raised the possibility of having the documents covering the CIFs subpoenaed so the senator-judges can see if there are real persons who received reward money as informants under cover of aliases, relative to the PFPs.
“Ang dami sa amin nagtataka talaga, totoo ba talaga ang mga aliases? Totoo bang nakatanggap sila ng rewards, informants’ money? Para lang matapos ang aming paghuhula, baka pwedeng ma-present all the documents relative to the PAPs, relative to the PFP, relative to the expected outcome. Para lang makapag-decision kami (We senator-judges are still wondering if the aliases referred to real people. Did these people receive reward money as informants? Just so we can end our guessing and make an informed decision, we need to see the documents relative to the PAPs, the PFPs, and the expected outcome),” he said.
He also asked impeachment court Presiding Officer Francis Escudero if the documents can be subpoenaed. Escudero answered that “the court can avail of that power” at the appropriate time.
“There’s a presumption nagamit nang maayos but still there’s that doubt, we cannot remove that, because there are so many issues na lumabas sa aming trial. And we want to be satisfied. After all we will be deciding on the basis of evidence and kung anong tingin namin ano ang tama o ano ang mali (There is a presumption the funds were used properly but there’s still that doubt that we cannot remove, because there are so many issues that came out during the trial. And we want to be satisfied. After all, we will be deciding what is right and wrong, on the basis of evidence),” Lacson said after thanking Escudero.
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Lacson, Binuking ang Pag-‘Copy-Paste’ ng mga Programa sa Regular na Budget at Confidential-Intelligence Funds ng OVP
Binuking ni Senator-Judge Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson nitong Miyerkules ang tinawag niyang pag-“copy-paste” na mga programa sa regular na budget ng Office of the Vice President (OVP) at sa Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) nito.
Ani Lacson, “stupid” ang paggamit ng halos magkakaparehong paglalarawan ng mga programa at physical targets para sa regular na budget at CIF nito.
“Paulit-ulit ito. Kayo naman matalinong tao at witness, ano po ang analysis ninyo diyan? Very simply paano nyo analyze ganitong klaseng descriptions? Kung analyze ninyo di ba insulto sa common sense? Di nyo man binago kaunti, at least si Col. Lachica siguro ito,” aniya sa kanyang interjection kasama si OVP assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio.
Sa kanyang interjection, binanggit ni Lacson ang mga halagang nakapaloob sa General Appropriations Act (GAA) para sa 2022 at 2023 at inihambing ang mga ito sa physical and financial plans (PFPs) ng OVP para sa CIF nito.
Batay sa mga naturang datos, noong 2022 ay nakatanggap ang OVP ng P621.6 milyon sa ilalim ng GAA at P125 milyon na CIF para sa fourth quarter ng 2022 para sa “good governance program” nito.
Noong 2023 naman, nakatanggap ang OVP ng P2.21 bilyon sa ilalim ng GAA at P500 milyon na CIF—P125 milyon kada quarter—para sa “socio-economic program delivery” nito.
Binanggit din ni Lacson na noong 2022 at 2023, nakalista sa physical targets ng PFP ng OVP ang “number of identified areas with surveillance conducted and monitored” at “percentage of activities implemented without untoward security-related incidents.”
“Unang una, (sa) regular program, sana man lang pagdating sa PFP (CFI), binago nyo nomenclature. Tapos under the ‘Physical Target’ column sana man lang binago nyo ang activities. Copy-paste eh,” sinabi niya kay Ortonio.
“I think it’s stupid. Sana man lang binago-bago nang kaunti,” dagdag niya.
Nilinaw ni Lacson na ang paggamit niya sa salitang “stupid” ay tumutukoy sa magkakaparehong paglalarawan at nomenclature sa mga PAP, PFP at physical targets, at hindi sa sinumang tao.
“I did not refer to a person but to the descriptions or nomenclatures of PAP’s, PFP’s and physical targets, so I and the presiding officer agree that there’s nothing wrong and offensive,” aniya.
Samantala, inihayag ni Lacson ang posibilidad na ma-subpoena ang mga dokumentong may kinalaman sa CIF upang makita ng mga senator-judge kung may mga totoong taong tumanggap ng reward money bilang mga informant gamit ang mga alyas, kaugnay ng mga PFP.
“Ang dami sa amin nagtataka talaga, totoo ba talaga ang mga aliases? Totoo bang nakatanggap sila ng rewards, informants’ money? Para lang matapos ang aming paghuhula, baka pwedeng ma-present all the documents relative to the PAPs, relative to the PFP, relative to the expected outcome. Para lang makapag-decision kami,” aniya.
Tinanong din niya si impeachment court Presiding Officer Francis Escudero kung maaaring ma-subpoena ang mga dokumento. Sinagot ni Escudero na “the court can avail of that power” sa tamang panahon.
“There’s a presumption nagamit nang maayos but still there’s that doubt, we cannot remove that, because there are so many issues na lumabas sa aming trial. And we want to be satisfied. After all we will be deciding on the basis of evidence and kung anong tingin namin ano ang tama o ano ang mali,” ani Lacson matapos pasalamatan si Escudero.
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