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MANILA, Philippines – The newly appointed president of the Optical Media Board (OMB) received his baptism of fire when he defended the agency’s proposed 2021 budget during a Senate hearing on his second day in office.
During the hearing on Friday, WBO President Atty. Christian Natividad, former mayor of the city of Malolos, presented the board’s budget of P70.1 million for next year.
“We respectfully present our budget and hope it is generous enough to help us do our job, as I am relatively new. This is my second day in office as head of OMB, ”said Natividad.
Senator Grace Poe, who chaired the hearing, congratulated the former mayor on his new position and told her colleagues to be gentle with him.
“Alalahanin natin, lang shovel of the second day,” Poe said, earning laughter from other senators and Natividad himself.
Senator Nancy Binay jokingly said, “Madam President (Poe), we are going to torture.”
Senator Imee Marcos also joked: “Let’s make it harder.”
OMB mandate
Minority Leader Senator Franklin Drilon questioned Natividad about OMB’s mandate, noting that the board’s functions could simply be a duplication of those of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) .
“The NBI and the PNP have the function of section of computer crimes. They are police officers, law enforcement against the OMB. Cybercrime is basically under the NBI and the PNP, ”Drilon said.
“Isn’t it duplicating the functions of various government agencies?” asked the senator.
In response, Natividad said that OMB is in charge of regulating the manufacture, sale, import and export of optical media products.
“We are more in the [hardware] and OMB cannot act on cyber crimes because we are more in the protection of intellectual property rights ”, said the OMB president.
Confidential funds
Introducing OMB’s budget, Natividad said that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only approved P70.1 million for its 2021, which is 20 million less than the original board proposal of P90.6 million.
No funds were earmarked for OMB’s capital outlay for the purchase of two obsolete vehicles. A budget allocation for the agency’s P5 million confidential funds was also not approved.
Drilon asked Natividad to justify the need for confidential funds, noting that those funds are “all over the bureaucracy.”
“In this particular case, the DBM did not allow him to have confidential funds, they erased it,” said the minority leader.
Natividad said the OMB needs confidential funds to pay for assets and informants, as well as to mobilize the board’s police.
“We must understand that OMB only has 77 employees for the whole country and we will need raises for that and that is just the request from the previous board to have confidential funds,” said the new OMB head.
In closing, Drilon said it raised questions about the confidential funds, as they could lead to a “very flexible and lax provision of public funds.”
“All the offices of this bureaucracy would request confidential funds and intelligence funds because this is the easiest way to settle through a closed envelope system,” he said.
“Just write down on a piece of paper how you spent the confidential funds and that is enough for the purposes of the [Commission on Audit]… That is why I am suspicious of these confidential funds, ”Drilon added.
‘Famous Mayor’
Before ending the WBO hearing, Villanueva praised Natividad for facing budget issues despite being new to the job.
“We just want to congratulate our famous mayor here in Bulacan for answering questions despite being his [second] day at OMB, ”Villanueva said.
“Pinagtripan e,” Poe said jokingly. [ac]
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