Drilon scores NICA for abusing mandate
The proposed budget of National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) for 2011 will be up for strict scrutiny after the Senate committee on finance discovered yesterday that the agency has fielded 811 intelligence agents which is beyond NICA’s mandate.
”If you look at the revised administrative code, you will see that they are not are supposed to gather information by themselves, they are supposed to coordinate information gathering, rationalize, analyze this,” Drilon said in a media interview.
During the Senate budget deliberation, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile questioned authority of NICA to field intelligence agents and foreign liaison officers which is a clear duplication of the function of military attaché.
”We intend to put this in its proper order. We want to stick to the mandate of NICA as a national intelligence coordinating agency. They should coordinate intelligence gathering,” Drilon said.
Drilon explained the gathering of intelligence should be done by line agencies like Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation, among others.
The lawmaker said he is not discounting the possibility of slashing the proposed P442.246 million budget of NICA for next year.
”We will review the budget and I don’t want to discount the possibility of reducing the budget in order to achieve and bring back NICA to original purpose for which it was created,” Drilon said.
Drilon, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, is not also discounting the possibility of removing the NICA agents if it would be the requirement of the careful NICA operation.
He said that it was during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that the NICA abused its authority after Arroyo issued Administrative Order 68 and Executive Orders 69 and 608 that in effect empowered the NICA to have intelligence agents and employ foreign liaison officers.
”What is happening is that NICA has its own agents and its own intelligence gathering information which is brought about by the previous administration playing favorites, having no regard to structures, to rule of law, they just rule on whim and not on the basis of what the law is,” Drilon said.
NICA has now 13 regional offices with 811 positions and six intelligence attachés in London, China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
As such, Drilon asked DBM to rationalize the operation of NICA “as part of the reforms in the government.” He said that the DBM should recommend the repeal of the executive issuances that expanded NICA’s functions.*PNA
