Eleazar says unused anti-NPA fund intact, vows wise and transparent spending
The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured the public on Thursday, July 15, that the unused multi-million anti-insurgency fund that was allocated for the police organization last year is intact and can still be spent until December this year.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar acknowledged the report of the Commission on Audit over low disbursement of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict Fund that was allocated for the police in the amount of P722.955 million in 2020.
According to the COA report, only PhP86.57 million was spent for its anti-communist programs, an amount that was very low compared to the PhP722.955 million fund that was released by the Department of Budget and Management in 2020. Further, only P240.8 million was obligated, leaving a balance of P482.15 million.
Eleazar said the reason was that the fund was only made available to the PNP on October 26, 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
"The entire fund cannot be used for the remaining two months of 2020 because the strict rules and laws," said Eleazar.
But he said that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already advised the PNP that the NTF-ELCAC Fund is considered as a ‘continuing appropriation’, which gives the PNP until December 31 this year to spend it.
The PNP Chief also took note of the other matters pointed out by the State auditor such as the procurement made by the Bicol Police Regional Office, which were supposedly not supported with documents, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Police’s alleged failure to obligate funds due to “non-preparation of project activities.”
“We have acknowledged these findings. We will treat these as lessons learned so that it will not be repeated again the next budget allocation and utilization,” Eleazar.