COA, gov’t agencies sign MOA on intel fund use

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has signed a circular with four government offices setting more transparent rules on the use of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).

The new regulations were published in The STAR yesterday.

Signing the circular with COA were the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National Defense (DND) and the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG).

“From a constitutional perspective, the COA is given the mandate to define the scope of its audit, and this includes confidential funds. These guidelines could be a positive tool for governance and is the actualization of the commission’s policy to engage all its stakeholders,” former COA chairperson Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan earlier said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad noted that “the joint circular comes at a time when our people are demanding greater public accountability in the use of funds and ensure that activities funded by the CIF are legitimate ones.

“By reforming the use of the CIF, we are helping the President fulfill his agenda of good governance to achieve sustained development, including just and lasting peace and the rule of law,” he said.

GCG chairman Cesar Villanueva, for his part, said that with the signing of the joint circular, “we are sending a strong message to the public that we are one with the call for greater responsibility, transparency and accountability.”