THE Senate on Monday afternoon adopted the resolution reviving its Select Oversight Committee for Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIFs) and named the senators who would keep an eagle eye on how government agencies disburse their confidential and intelligence funds.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday sponsored Senate Resolution No. 302, which he filed last week amid concerns raised by various sectors on the necessity and possible misuse and abuse of the P9.2 billion CIFs included by the executive in the proposed 2023 national budget.
Zubiri will chair the special committee, while Senators Joel Villanueva, Juan Edgardo Angara, Ronald dela Rosa, and Aquilino Pimentel III were named members.
The proposed 2023 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) has P9.2 billion in confidential and intelligence funds lodged in various government agencies, including the Office of the President which has P4.5 billion, the Office of the Vice President with P500 million, and the Department of Education (DepEd) with P150 million, among others.
“These (CIFs) are not subject to the usual or regular auditing rules and procedures of the Commission on Audit, as compared to other expensive items in the budget. So, it falls on us, on this proudly democratic and independent Senate, to reactivate the Select Oversight Committee where we can subject these confidential and intelligence funds to checks and balances,” Zubiri said.
“We are cognizant of our own primordial role, power, and responsibility as holders of the power of the purse. We, the elected representatives of the people, must ensure that the funds are judiciously and rightly used,” he added.
Zubiri said he will make sure that the oversight committee will monitor the use of the CIFs.
“We will exercise the full extent of our oversight function. We will monitor the use of these funds, we will go over reports relevant to each agencies’ use of funds and we will conduct hearings, if necessary,” he said.
Villanueva, who is the Senate majority leader, said all senators were made co-authors of the resolution.
Pimentel said that while the Senate revival of the oversight committee on CIFs was a good move, it would still be best if Congress refrains from giving civilian agencies any secret funds.
“I welcome this development in the Senate but as stated by our Senate President we have done this before. So let us continue the good practice. But then, there is even a better practice which is to discourage the allocation of lump sum, especially in the form of confidential and intelligence funds in the national budget,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel earlier said he will move for the deletion of the CIFs in civilian agencies like the Office of the President, Office of the Vice President, and Department of Education since they are not actual gatherers of intelligence information.
