House panel: No confidential funds for OVP, DepEd, DA, DICT, DFA

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), both under Sara Duterte, will no longer have confidential funds under the proposed P5.768-trillion budget for 2024, lawmakers announced yesterday.

The House of Representatives has removed a total of P1.23 billion in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) for the OVP, DepEd and three other agencies.

The Departments of Agriculture (DA), Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as well as Foreign Affairs (DFA) were also not allotted CIF.

The DFA had earlier declined the Senate’s offer to have CIF to augment its diplomacy work overseas.

The decision to strip the OVP, DepEd, DA, DICT and DFA of CIF was made by a “small committee” that Speaker Martin Romualdez tasked to realign budget allocations for 2024.

“We believe that the House is on the right side of history. We are responding to the call of the times,” Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, senior vice chair of the House committee on appropriations, said at a press briefing. “The volatile situation in the West Philippine Sea calls for immediate and decisive action to protect our national sovereignty.”

Quimbo was accompanied at the media briefing by Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, who chairs the House appropriations committee, Majority Leader Zamboanga Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe and Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan of 4Ps party-list.

A total of P1.23 billion in CIF was realigned to security agencies in charge of monitoring and protecting the country’s territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea.

The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency received P300 million in CIF; National Security Council, P100 million and Philippine Coast Guard, P200 million.

The Department of Transportation was allotted P381.8 million worth of CIF for airport development and expansion of Pag-asa Island Airport. The amount is part of the P3-billion total allocation for the said airport.

The P381 million was the only portion taken from confidential funds.

Budget allocations for the national security agencies reached P981 million.

The balance of P285 million was earmarked to other agencies for MOOE or maintenance and other operating expenses, instead of confidential funds.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources received P30 million; DICT, P25 million; DFA, P30 million and Office of the Ombudsman, P50 million.

The DepEd’s Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education program was allotted P150 million.

Co said they would transmit the House amendments to the 2024 General Appropriations bill to the Senate on Oct. 25.

Libanan said the House panel heard the concerns of all stakeholders.

Meanwhile, Quimbo branded as “fake news” allegations that the House of Representatives has at its disposal about P1.6 billion in confidential funds.

“Congress has no confidential funds. The allegation on social media about the P1.6 billion is actually extraordinary expenses,” Quimbo told reporters.

She explained that while extraordinary fund is lumped under the same heading with the CIF, it is subject to full scrutiny by the Commission on Audit.

Realignment

The House small committee introduced a total of P194 billion in budget realignment to enhance food production and combat inflation:

• P20 billion to DA for rice subsidy program

• P40 billion to the National Irrigation Administration

• P2 billion to the Philippine Coconut Authority for massive planting/replanting of seedlings

• P1.5 billion for vaccines against the African swine fever

• P1 billion to the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority to build fishery and post-harvest facilities in Palawan and Kalayaan Group of Islands.

To invest in people and the country’s future, funding was also allocated to the following: P43.9 billion to the Department of Health, P1 billion to UP Philippine General Hospital, P35 billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P17.5 billion to the Department of Labor and Employment for the TUPAD program, P10.4 billion for the DOLE-Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and P17.1 billion for the Commission on Higher Education.

‘Abolish all CIF’

Cause-oriented groups are not satisfied with the decision of lawmakers stripping five government agencies of confidential funds.

Renato Reyes, president of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said it is not enough that confidential funds are removed or transferred.

“Confidential funds must be abolished. Public funds should be itemized in the budget and subject to regular audit,” Reyes said in a statement.

Peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said President Marcos should also be stripped of CIF worth P4.5 billion.

“Confidential and intelligence funds are the modern-day pork barrel. It greases the wheels of corruption and bureaucrat capitalism,” KMP secretary general Ronnie Manalo said. — Emmanuel Tupas