Officials of the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will have to come up with a solid explanation for the "anomalous" P1.1 billion fund transfer between the two agencies as another Congressional probe is underway to uncover new details.

This, after the House of Representatives Committees on Good Government and Public Accountability and on Information and Communications Technology recently held a joint hearing to tackle the DICT's fund transfer of P1.1 billion of their P12 billion fund for the free public Wi-Fi program to the MMDA during the Duterte administration.

It was Senior Deputy Minority Leader Paul Daza who brought up the issue to light, which prompted the joint hearing.

Officials of the said agencies were scolded by the lawmakers after the Department of Budget and Management disclosed that the DICT did not make any request for authorization regarding their controversial fund transfer.

In questioning the transfer of funds, Daza said there are no clear guidelines from Congress on transfers of funds, considering that the legislature sets the budget allocations for all government agencies.
He said such inter-agency transfers, without Congress' authorization, are pretty suspicious, if not illegal.

DBM Acting Director Perpetual Judea Quiazon told lawmakers that based on their records, "there is no authority for the transfer issued by the DBM," thus, it is a violation under the 2022 General Appropriations Act.

MMDA rebutted Daza's claims that the P1.1. billion fund transfer for the national government's broadband project to their agency was illegal since it was allegedly done without Congress' consent.

MMDA acting chairperson Romando Artes said that the inter-agency transfer of funds is completely "legal and not prohibited." Although the statement was concise and he did not expound further, he said the MMDA is ready to answer all points raised by the lawmaker but in a proper forum.

In a recent interview, Daza said at least three whistleblowers approached him about the possibility of an even worse scenario.

"The transfer is not only illegal. But the project itself might be possible that it's not really a project," he said.

Lawmakers will continue to take action against the said fund transfer and the panel hearing is set for 13 December.