Poe doubts DICT's competence to handle confidential funds given 'dismal' spending

MANILA — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) must first prove its competence in utilizing its budget before Congress approves its request of P300 million confidential funds next year, a senator said Thursday.

• Lawmakers slam DICT’s low budget utilization rate

"Its dismal budget utilization rate of just 32.2 percent in 2022 leaves little confidence in terms of proper utilization of the [proposed confidential] fund," Sen. Grace Poe said in a statement.

Poe is the chairperson of the Senate Public Services panel.

The DICT has been repeatedly called out by lawmakers for its underspending, with the Department of Budget and Management citing this reason why its allocation for 2024 was slashed by P1 billion.

• Why was DICT's budget slashed by P1 billion for 2024?

On Wednesday, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy defended the agency's proposed confidential funds to fight off "very well-funded, very well-organized and very highly technical" scammers.

"We need all the resources possible and all the tools possible in order to go after them. So, the confidential fund is essential in order to conduct intel and investigation in order to go after these criminals," he said.

But according to Poe, a serious assessment should be conducted before they agree with DICT's request.

• DICT leads list of underspending agencies

"We would need to study if DICT has the capability to even spend this budget," Poe said, adding that she would need to ask the Commission on Audit on how DICT spent its previous confidential funds.

"As recipient of the 4th highest confidential fund among all agencies, the burden is on the DICT to prove to us that this is needed... Only then will we decide to recommend their budget request to the plenary," she added.

• 'It is essential': DICT defends proposed P300 million confidential funds for 2024

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna opposed DICT's request for confidential funds, labelling it as "palusot."

"The plan of DICT to again ask for confidential funds in the gargantuan amount of P300 million to supposedly do their work against scammers is a lot of hogwash based on nonsense. It is merely a 'palusot' for their failure to do their job," Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares said.

"They had P400 million in confidential funds in 2019 but were they able to stop the scammers and syndicates?" he added.

Under the 2024 National Expenditure Program, the DICT was allotted a P10-billion budget.