Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday backed a proposed amendment in the Senate’s version of the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 that effectively stops the operations of the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO) forensic laboratory division.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“I authored the proposed amendment in the Senate version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB). Operating a forensic laboratory division in PAO is a duplication of the functions of the primary law enforcement agencies, which are authorized and recognized by law to conduct forensic examination,” Drilon said in a statement.
Drilon said these institutions that are authorized to conduct forensic tests are the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“Note that the NBI, like the PAO, is an attached agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ),” the minority leader stressed.
“Instead of duplicating the functions of the NBI and the PNP, PAO should use the funds to hire more lawyers to assist indigents with legal problems,” he said.
Asked if he is confident that the President will not veto this specific provision, Drilon replied in the affirmative.
“It is a verbatim reproduction of a similar provision in the present 2020 GAA (General Appropriations Act), which the President approved,” he said.
Earlier, PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta questioned the particular provision, saying the President should veto it in case it hurdles the bicameral conference committee.
In a statement, the PAO said the provision is “illegal, despotic, whimsical, vindictive and unconstitutional.”