EDITORIAL -  A dangerous mindset

Perhaps still smarting because she lost the Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) she wanted given to the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President, Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio couldn’t help but vent her frustration.

"Tandaan ninyo, kung sino man kumokontra sa confidential funds ay kumokontra sa kapayapaan. Kung sino ang kumokontra sa kapayapaan ay kalaban ng bayan,” Vice President Carpio said in her speech during the celebration of the 122nd Police Service Anniversary in Butuan City the other day.

In short she branded those who oppose confidential funds as against peace and order and equivalent to enemies of the state.

We don’t agree with her logic at all. Just because you oppose CIF doesn’t mean you are a public enemy.

To clarify things, many of those who oppose CIF aren’t against it per se; rather they are opposed to giving CIF to agencies that don’t deserve it or that shouldn’t have it, like the DepEd for example.

The issue with confidential funds is that they can become prone to abuse. Because these funds don’t have to be accounted for by those using them, the public will never know exactly how this aspect of public money --meaning the taxes they paid for with their own sweat and tears-- was used.

So aside from the confidential nature of such funds, we also have to be “confident” that they are being spent correctly by our public officials.

However, when you give CIF to an agency that doesn’t really need it or has no mandate to carry out duties that involve security, intelligence, or espionage, it raises a righteous suspicion that it might be spent for other purposes.

We have to be honest here; because of so many cases of government corruption that earlier-mentioned confidence that people have in their public officials spending public money right doesn’t really exist in huge amount.

It’s more than sad that her mindset seems to have been programmed that those who only want some accountability from the government should be treated as an enemy, it’s also dangerous because she happens to be the second-highest official of the land.