DENR: Loyzaga spent only .002% of P1.1B travel budget

Contrary to Senator Raffy Tulfo's claim that Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga used up its travel budget of ₱1.1 billion, the department said over the weekend that its chief used only .002 percent of the total travel allocation for this year.

In a statement sent to the Daily Tribune, the DENR said Loyzaga's foreign trips for 2023 only amounted to P3 million.

The P1.107 billion travelling expenses in the DENR 2023 budget, it explained, covered local and foreign trips for the entire agency, including its central office, five staff bureaus, 16 regional offices, 76 Provincial Environment and Natural Resources offices and 146 Community Environment and Natural Resource offices.

The agency said that as of 23 November 2023, the DENR Central Office — made up of the Office of the Secretary, nine Undersecretary offices, seven Assistant Secretary offices, the offices of 10 service directors and 33 divisions, and special projects and other offices — had spent P45.169 million of the travel budget.

P3.048 million of these, the agency stressed, went to Loyzaga's official missions abroad as Environment Secretary — or 0.002 percent of the total travel allocation.

During the DENR's budget hearing on 20 November, Tulfo said the DENR chief had embarked on 13 to 14 foreign trips in 2023 and questioned why the agency had such a large travel budget.

The DENR said it has submitted a detailed explanation to Tulfo's office.