P10.29 billion in secret funds sought for 2025 

File photo of the Department of Budget and Management
STAR/File

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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