While intending to give Gov. Roel Ragay Degamo no money for his Intelligence Fund for 2013, the Provincial Board unwittingly gave the governor the amount of P12 million.
Board Member Saleto Erames told the MetroPost that this is because the Board failed to override the gubernatorial veto of the Intelligence Fund in the 2013 budget.
Under Sec. 55 of the Local Government Code, if the governor vetoes a provision of the approved budget, the budget to be used is the previous year’s budget, which is P12 million, Erames explained.
“This is for the Intelligence Fund only,” Erames said, adding that the money taken from the Intelligence Fund and transferred to Gender and Development Programs will also not anymore exist. “Wala na to,” he said.
The Provincial Board had voted to transfer the P10 million Intelligence Fund of the Governor to fund Gender and Development programs, which Degamo objected to.
Degamo justified the continued allocation of his Intelligence Fund, saying this was helpful in the surrender of communist rebels as well as in the solution of some crimes in the Province.