FORMER Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte bares Vice President Sara Duterte’s plans for her office’s intelligence fund during the live broadcast of SMNI on Tuesday evening, October 10.
Duterte revealed that the last time he talked with his daughter was during the burial of his younger sister, Jocelyn Duterte. He told the vice president that he wanted to see her intelligence fund.
Duterte said he read the rationale of VP Sara’s intelligence fund and revealed that she is planning to use the P125 million intelligence fund to make the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) compulsory.
He added that VP Sara wanted to have a soft landing and that he suggested that she should be frank and tell everyone how she would use her office’s intelligence fund.
“Mag-prangka ka nalang, itong intelligence fund na ito gagamitin ko para sa utak ng Pilipino kasi ito ang target ko kayong mga komunista na nandyan (Tell them upfront that this intelligence fund will be used for the minds of the Filipino because this is my target, the communist that are there),” Duterte said.
He pointed out that soft landing means conducting seminars before enrollment or giving students a tour of the camp so that they will be aware of the war equipment that the government has.
Duterte then suggested that the vice president should announce that the goal of the intelligence fund is to prepare the minds of the Filipinos for the insurgency that is never-ending while the ROTC will ensure that if a war happens there will be those who will fight for their respective barangays.
However, Vice President Duterte told her father that if she took his advice, some of the Filipinos may harass the military.
The elder Duterte emphasized that one of the reasons why many people do not approve of ROTC is because the military is resisting it, hence, there is a need to have a soft landing which the vice president plans to do for her intelligence fund.
“But it is not easy for that to sink, kailangan ng soft landing niyan eh. Pilitan yan, ROTC kayo dito, hindi ka maka-produce ng ano… they will never learn (But it is not easy for that to sink, there is a need for a soft landing. It should be enforced. You conduct ROTC here but you can’t produce a… they will never learn),” Rodrigo said.
The Department of Education (DepEd) proposed a P150-million confidential fund while the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is seeking P500 million in confidential funds for the fiscal year of 2024.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives (HoR) scrapped the P1.3 billion worth of confidential funds and realigned it for civilian government agencies under the proposed P5.768 trillion budget for the fiscal year of 2024. The funds will be allocated to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), National Security Council (NSC), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the Department of Transportation (DOT). RGP with reports from TAPM