Updates on intel fund use sought
A PHILIPPINE Senator on Tuesday urged law enforcement agencies to brief lawmakers on how intelligence funds have been utilized this year to build intel networks to secure wanted fugitives after a former town mayor and her cohorts accused of coddling illegal gambling outfits fled the country undetected.
“They freely transferred from location to location and even reached our ports,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in a statement in Filipino. “What happened to the intelligence network being built by our law enforcement agencies?”
Mr. Gatchalian cited gaps in the intel gathering capacity of these agencies and what he called a “snail-pace process” of filing criminal cases against the former mayor and her cohorts.
“Whether there was collusion or a failure of intelligence, there should be accountability on this issue,” the senator said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez