‘No more cash’ left of Malampaya fund

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon backtracked on her previous statement and said there’s no cash left of the multi-billion-peso Malampaya fund. Several weeks ago, Sen Ralph Recto asked the budget department to explain why P137 billion from the fund was missing. Back then, De Leon said the billions from the Malampaya Fund remain “perfectly intact,” and that the P137 billion “is not gone.” She called Recto’s statement “misleading,” but did not explain then that the cash had been used. At a briefing Monday at the Senate, De Leon said there is “no more cash” from the royalties of the gas operations off Palawan, but added the P137 billion – or the amount that’s supposed to be remaining – is still “available” for appropriation. Budget Secretary Butch Abad also confirmed there is no cash sitting around from the Malampaya fund, but he added that even if there was no cash, the appropriation is still available.

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