Tarriela says House 'echoed pulse of majority' on confidential funds issue
At A Glance
- Occidental Mindoro lone district Rep. Leody "Odie" Tarriela welcomed on Wednesday, Nov. 8 the results of OCTA Research's "Tugon ng Masa" survey on the House of Representatives' realignment of confidential funds in the proposed 2024 national budget.
Occidental Mindoro lone district Rep. Leody "Odie" Tarriela (Rep. Tarriela's office)
"We echoed the pulse of the majority."
Occidental Mindoro lone district Rep. Leody "Odie" Tarriela made this declaration Wednesday, Nov. 8 after seeing the results of OCTA Research's "Tugon ng Masa" survey on the House of Representatives' realignment of confidential funds in the proposed 2024 national budget.
"We in the House of Representatives welcome the results of the Tugon ng Masa survey by OCTA Research. It fortified our belief that the House leadership did the right thing when it removed the confidential funds of some civilian agencies and transfered them to agencies that have a direct hand in protecting our interests in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)," Tarriela said.
"As lawmakers, we serve the people and are answerable to the people. With 57 percent of adult Filipinos agreeing with our move, it tells that we echoed the pulse of the majority. And that's what matters in the end, not rhetoric or propaganda," he stressed.
Tarriela noted that the survey was conducted between Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, or right when the confidential funds issue was beginning to dominate public discourse.
A total of 1,200 people were polled by OCTA Research.
"We stand behind House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez's intention to protect what is ours in the WPS, and we will use the full resources of government to do this. That is the patriotic way to handle our chalenges at-sea," said the Occidental Mindoro solon.
Among those stripped of confidential funds by the House leadership under the P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or proposed national budget for 2024 were the
Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Agriculture (DA).
A total of P1.23 billion confidential funds were reallocated in the GAB all in all.