Lacson Tenders Resignation of Finance Committee Posts to Focus on Intensified Scrutiny of 2022 Budget, COA Red Flags

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Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson has tendered his resignation as Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, and as Chairman of the panel's Subcommittee C, to give himself more time to focus on scrutinizing the P5.024-trillion budget for 2022, as well as to address the advent of red flags raised by the Commission on Audit in its audit reports of several agencies.

Lacson said the COA's red flags indicate the "blatant inefficiency, unconscionable incompetence and worse, probable misuse and abuse of public funds in virtually the entire government."

"I trust that it is to the greatest interest of our people to once and for all, ferret out the truth behind these reports, put value to the oft-ignored COA mandate, and ensure that there will be no 'sacred cows' in making accountable those who have blundered the effective and proper use of public monies," he said in his letter to Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III.

Lacson, who earned a reputation as a watchdog of the national budget, also reassured the Senate leadership that he will "actively participate in the budget deliberations and reinforce the democratic system of checks and balances."

As chairman of Finance Subcommittee C, Lacson sponsors the annual budgets of the:

* Department of Information and Communications Technology and its attached agencies
* Department of National Defense and its attached agencies
* Commission on Human Rights
* Dangerous Drugs Board
* Mindanao Development Authority
* Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
* Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
* Presidential Legislative Liaison Office
* Southern Philippines Development Authority