Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm


To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of
Franklin Strategic Mortgage Portfolio

In planning and performing our audit of the
financial statements of Franklin Strategic Mortgage Portfolio (the "Fund")
 as of and for the year ended September 30, 2019,
in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB),
 we considered the Fund's internal control over financial reporting,
 including controls over safeguarding securities, as a basis for
 designing our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
 opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements
of Form N-CEN, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion
 on the effectiveness of the Fund's internal control
 over financial reporting.  Accordingly, we do not express
an opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund's internal
control over financial reporting.

The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing
and maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting.
 In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and
judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of controls.
A company's internal control over financial reporting is
a process designed to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
 preparation of financial statements for external
purposes in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles. A company's internal control
over financial reporting includes those policies and
procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records
that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect
 the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;
 (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded
as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in
accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that
 receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only
 in accordance with authorizations of management and directors
 of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance
regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized
acquisition, use or disposition of a company's assets that
could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over
financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements.
Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future
periods are subject to the risk that controls may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the
degree of compliance with the policies or procedures
 may deteriorate.

A deficiency in internal control over financial reporting exists
 when the design or operation of a control does not allow management
or employees, in the normal course of performing their
assigned functions, to prevent or detect misstatements on
a timely basis. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a
combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting,
 such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material
misstatement of the company's annual or interim financial
statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Our consideration of the Fund's internal control over
financial reporting was for the limited purpose described
in the first paragraph and would not necessarily disclose
all deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting
 that might be material weaknesses under standards established
by the PCAOB. However, we noted no deficiencies in the Fund's
internal control over financial reporting and its operation,
including controls over safeguarding securities, that we
consider to be a material weakness as defined
above as of September 30, 2019.

This report is intended solely for the information and use of the
Board of Trustees of Franklin Strategic Mortgage Portfolio
and the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not
intended to be and should not be used by anyone other
than these specified parties.


/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
San Francisco, California
November 14, 2019