P10.29 billion in secret funds sought for 2025
MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration is seeking P10.29 billion in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) for 2025, at least 16% lower than the CIFs the executive branch received for the current budget year.
Of the P10.29 billion, P4.37 billion will go to confidential funds while P5.92 billion will go to intelligence funds, said Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman during the turnover ceremony of the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to the House of Representatives.
The DBM first received an overall request of P11.39 billion from the executive branch but pared this down to P10.29 billion before transmitting the proposed spending plan to Congress.
Pangandaman also listed the 15 agencies with a request for intelligence funds in 2025:
| Agencies | Proposed intelligence funds for 2025 |
| Department of National Defense (including the Armed Forces of the Philippines) | 1,800,000,000 |
| National Intelligence Coordinating Agency | 991,200,000 |
| National Intelligence Coordinating Agency | 991,200,000 |
| Philippine National Police | 806,030,000 |
| Department of Justice | 579,400,000 |
| Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency | 500,000,000 |
| Department of Transportation | 405,000,000 |
| National Security Council | 250,000,000 |
| Department of Finance | 79,500,000 |
| Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process | 60,000,000 |
| Office of the Ombudsman | 51,400,000 |
| Commission on Audit | 10,000,000 |
| Anti-Money Laundering Council | 7,500,000 |
| Games and Amusement Board | 4,000,000 |
| Commission on Human Rights | 1,000,000 |
Publicly available NEP documents show that the Office of the President requested P4.5 billion in CIFs, the same amount it received for 2024.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Vice President did not request CIFs for 2025. The Department of Education, which prepared its budget proposal under Vice President Sara Duterte's leadership before she resigned as secretary on June 19, also did not request CIFs.
The submission of the NEP to the House marks the beginning of the legislative budget cycle where both the House and Senate will scrutinize and possibly tweak the P6.352-trillion spending plan for 2025.
During last year's budget hearings, Duterte's request for confidential funds for the OVP and DepEd drew flak, while lawmakers questioned the vice president's P150-million confidential and intelligence expenses in 2022.
Duterte eventually dropped her request for CIFs, while the House decided to realign civilian agencies' requested CIFs to agencies defending the West Philippine Sea.
Confidential funds, as the name implies, cover expenses linked to confidential surveillance tasks within government agencies.
Similarly, intelligence funds are for intelligence expenses related to information-gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel and intelligence practitioners.
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