THE Department of National Defense and the Philippine National Police yesterday welcomed auditing of their respective intelligence funds to ensure transparency.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the DND and the Armed Forces are both open to allowing an audit of their intelligence funds “without compromising national security concerns.”

”No corrupt practices shall happen under my watch. We will never allow indiscriminate spending,” Gazmin told a Senate investigation . He added that the audit is one of the suggestions made by the DND investigating committee formed to curb corruption within the AFP.

PNP chief Director General Raul M. Bacalzo also made a similar statement at the PNP command conference where he gave instructions to all concerned commanders to further step up the anti-crime  and anti-terror campaign through improved visibility patrols and intelligence-gathering.

“We welcome any form of audit of any kind of funds in the PNP. In fact, lahat naman po yan, kahit po intel fund subject to audit po ‘yan, ‘yan po ang batas natin. The PNP as always, we are open to any form of audit, accounting and any investigation to that effect,” said Bacalzo.

Gazmin said that among the suggestions of the committee were the  computerization of the AFP log and financial management;  strict implementation of laws; creation of a defense acquisition bureau; enhancement of auditing mechanisms; shift from cash to real logistics;  continuing education; and  reconstruction of AFP financial and logistic system.

Armed Forces chief General Eduardo Oban Jr. said internal efforts have become more frequent and are being conducted randomly in the military in the wake of the corruption scandals that rocked the institution following the expose of former AFP budget officer Colonel George Rabusa.