Villanueva backs Zubiri's push for Senate oversight panel

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva supported a Senate resolution filed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri creating a Senate Select Oversight Committee to make sure intelligence and confidential funds are spent responsibly.

The Senate should definitely exercise the “power of the purse” to make sure that the intelligence funds in the national budget will indeed be spent intelligently and responsibly, he said.

The resolution to reconstitute this Select Oversight Committee has been filed and adopted in the previous Congresses.

Its basis is from Section 14, Rule X of the Senate, where it provides that whenever necessary, special committees shall be organized, the membership and jurisdiction of which shall be determined by the Senate President.