Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Thursday, July 1, called for public's vigilance in making sure that the government's resources will not be used by politicians for the 2022 national and local elections.

In a statement, the Senate's chief fiscalizer said the 2022 national budget could be used "to fuel presidential ambitions", although not naming any personality.

"I must put a warning: Everyone should watch out because next year is an election year," Drilon said.

"We have to make sure the money collected from the taxes are spent properly and not for election purposes," he appealed to the public.

The 2022 proposed budget, he said, will be the "most important piece of legislation" in Congress once the third regular session resumes this month.

"The budget is a major instrument for the recovery of our economy. Therefore, next year will be very critical in terms of the budget, because, first, 2022 is an election year, and, second, next year is critical for our economic recovery," he pointed out.

Drilon reiterated his concerns about the appropriations for the government's anti-insurgency task force, which he previously tagged as "Malacanang's pork barrel."

"This is the kind of excess fat that can be cut. We must shave the excess fat in the budget and devote it to resources that are needed like funding the ayuda or social amelioration program," he said.

"To me, the anti-insurgency fund is totally unnecessary. Pork barrel lang iyon (It's just pork barrel). We can devote it to 4Ps or the ayuda which is totally unfunded," he maintained.

Drilon appealed to economic managers to "not get influenced by political whims" that could affect the proposed allocations in the budget for next year.

"We have a very limited resource. Putting the resources in the right places is critical in our recovery from the pandemic. We need resources because of the pandemic. The economy suffered. A lot are unemployed. A lot are hungry. Our economy shrunk. All of these are because of the mismanagement of COVID-19 pandemic," he stressed.

Earlier, Drilon vowed to oppose next year's budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).