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Realigning P15-M ERC confidential fund: Sen. Win Gatchalian answers queries from colleagues during the plenary debates on the proposed FY 2023 budgets of the Department of Energy (DOE), the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) Thursday, November 10, 2022. For 2023, the DOE has a proposed budget of P1.33-billion while the budget proposals of ERC and NEA amounted to P1.13 billion and P1.88 billion, respectively. Even before the Senate minority bloc could flag the P15 million confidential expenses of the ERC, Gatchalian informed the plenary that the money had already been realigned to particular line-item projects. “Just to put on record, that’s the initiative of the chairperson (Atty. Monalisa Dimalanta) when we were deliberating ERC’s budget,” the former Senate Committee on Energy chairperson said. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III lauded the initiative of the ERC chairperson to realign its confidential fund, saying it could be used in other worthwhile line-item programs like consumer education. (Albert Calvelo/Senate PRIB)