Public services, not military spending

A youth group wrote an open letter addressed to Congress calling for the reallocation of Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) towards public services instead of security and military matters.

Various lawmakers, including Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co, have stated their intent to channel the CIF of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Department of Education (DepEd), and other civilian agencies towards the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the National Security Council (NSC), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), among others.

Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK), an activist youth organization, asserted that the estimated P2.95-B in CIF could instead be used to address the crises that matter to Filipinos in their everyday lives.

“We neither need nor want a national budget where billions are kept hidden from the public. Congress must exercise its power of the purse to ensure that the wealth of the Filipino people is fully utilized to secure their well-being and not to satisfy the whims of any incumbent administration,” the letter, which currently has over 500 signatories, read.

Among the sectors that SPARK claimed should receive some of the billions in CIF are the education and labor sectors.

“Even a portion of the billions in CIF that our legislators want to send the military’s way would do wonders for the derelict, crumbling education system, which continues to make the youth and students suffer to this day,” John Lazaro, SPARK National Coordinator, stated.

“Equally, the current minimum wage is light years away from what is actually needed by a family of five to survive day-to-day life, especially with accelerating inflation,” he added.

SPARK also called out the legislators, including Sen. Zubiri, Rep. Go, and Sen. Risa Hontiveros, for openly advocating for the reallocation of people’s funds into purposes that could stoke the fires of war.

“In our book, no one who advocates funding military expenses instead of a better life for Filipinos deserves to call themselves a public servant,” Lazaro stressed.

According to the group, the fact that any portion of the proposed 2023 national budget, which is currently being deliberated in Congress and various government agencies, could be confidential at all is an insult to the Filipinos whose taxes fund the budget.

They further warned that using these confidential funds to bolster the military would only worsen tensions in Southeast Asia, where the United States and China are already inching closer and closer to open war.

“Every peso kept secret from the people is a peso taken from the people,” the letter read.

The open letter has garnered vast support, ranging from professionals and religious groups, to student councils and civil society organizations. Among the prominent groups include Greenpeace, Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, DAKILA, and GZO Peace Institute.

Other signatories include Inquirer columnist Ceres Doyo, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, ex-CHEd commissioner Patricia Licuanan, and former Negros lawmaker Rafael Coscolluela.

SPARK continues to wage a campaign for peace amidst the brewing conflict in the Southeast Asian Sea, involving the United States and China.