Sara says critics of confidential fund are 'enemies of the nation' for obstructing peace

MANILA, Philippines — Days after the House of Representatives started its process of realigning confidential funds in the proposed 2024 national budget, Vice President Sara Duterte branded critics of the secret funds as “enemies of the nation” due to its supposed necessity for peace and security.

Duterte dedicated her whole speech at an event by the Philippine National Police in Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte on Thursday to defend the “crucial role of confidential funds in ensuring the security and development” of the country.

“Anyone who attacks or undermines funds allocated for peace and order is naturally assumed to have insidious motivations. Such actions go against the protection and well-being of our citizenry,” Duterte said.

“Kung sino man kumokontra sa confidential funds ay kumokontra sa kapayapaan. Kung sino ang kumokontra sa kapayaan ay kalaban ng bayan (Whoever is going against confidential funds is going against peace. Whoever is going against peace is an enemy of the nation),” she said.

Minority lawmakers at the lower chamber have repeatedly called to abolish the allocation of confidential and intelligence funds in the proposed spending plan for next year. At least P650 million of confidential funds were originally allotted to the agencies under Duterte — the Office of the Vice President and the Deparment of Education — before House lawmakers decided to realign these to agencies concerned with national defense and security.

During committee-level and plenary debates on the proposed 2024 budget, Makabayan bloc lawmakers and independent lawmaker Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay, 1st District) also urged Duterte to explain how her office spent P125 million in confidential funds in a short amount of time — 11 days, according to the Commission on Audit — in 2022. 

Duterte also told senators during the OVP and DepEd’s budget briefing that she “can live without confidential funds, but of course our work will be much easier if we have the flexibility.”

But for Duterte, the speed in which her office used up the secret lump sum — which it obtained through budget adjustments of the Office of the President’s contingency funds — is negligible.

Speaking to police personnel, Duterte said that the use of confidential funds “should not be constrained by time.”

“It matters not whether it takes one day or one year of spending; what truly matters is the safety and security of our people,” Duterte said.

The vice president also alleged that the use of the funds to “protect citizens” cannot be “based on arbitrary timeframes.”

A small committee of House lawmakers that includes appropriations panel senior vice chairperson Rep. Stella Quimbo (Marikina City) has until October 10 to finalize its amendments of the P5.7-trillion national budget for 2024, which include its planned realignment of the controversial fund to agencies tasked with defending the West Philippine Sea.