CIFs issue almost led to a deadlock — Angara
BY WENDELL VIGILIA and RAYMOND AFRICA
THE chairperson of the House committee on appropriations yesterday defended the decision of the House of Representatives and the Senate to restore the P150 million confidential funds of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the P10 billion budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the reconciled version of the proposed 2023 national budget.
Rep. Elizalde Co (PL, Ako Bicol) said the decision of congressional leaders to restore DepEd’s confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) was aimed at stopping the recruitment of students by communist rebels and “secure the future of our children.”
Co said the recruitment of communist fighters begin in schools, especially in the countryside.
“That’s the decision of the House because it would be more difficult if our children are recruited and led to the wrong path. So, we want the DepEd to spearhead, we want them to secure the future of our children,” he said.
“Our young students should be taught early in life about the perils of joining illegal organizations whose aim is to overthrow the duly-constituted government,” he also said.
The appropriations panel chair said lawmakers have similar reasons for restoring the budget of the anti-insurgency group NTF-ELCAC, stressing that “many of those in cities and urban areas do not appreciate efforts to end the insurgency.”
“But those in the countryside are sick and tired of oppressive revolutionary taxes, destruction of infrastructure, power lines and cell towers. Often, poor farmers and fisherfolk are even forced to give the food on their table to the rebels. The food that should go to the mouths of our poor people are being stolen by rebels,” Co said.
For these reasons, Co said the work of the NTF-ELCAC — which has been gathering flak for its performance — in helping end insurgency and improve barangays in the countryside “is much appreciated.”
“That’s why we supported the restoration of the agency’s budget. They play an indispensable role in rural communities,” he said.
OVERSIGHT MONITORING
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, said senators had to adjust and make concessions with their House counterparts as they were adamant about restoring what was contained in the National Expenditure Program.
With a deadlock looming because of the CIFs issue, Angara said compromises had to be made to avoid delays in the passage of the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
Angara said the CIFs issue was among the last provisions discussed during the bicameral discussions.
Angara said the Senate was able to realign around P70 million of the CIFs from different agencies in the bicameral conference report on the 2023 budget.
Angara assured the public and government critics that CIFs granted to agencies and offices will be closely examined by Congress and the Commission on Audit, allaying fears that they will be subject to abuse.
Angara said the scrutiny of the CIFs is guaranteed under the law through the General Appropriations Act, the reactivation of the Senate’s Select Oversight Committee on Confidential and Intelligence Funds, and as part of the mandate of the COA.
Amid misconceptions, Angara said the COA is mandated to look into the use of the CIFs but unlike their regular audits, the results cannot be made public.
“Because of the nature of these funds, since they are linked to national security, safety, counterterrorism, you cannot just expose these publicly. They are linked to certain things that are established to be essential to the safety of our people, to the existence of the State, etc.,” Angara said.
He said the same goes for the work of the Senate’s oversight committee, which needs to keep its hearings under wraps due to the sensitivity of the issues to be examined.
“Little is known about these funds but in the process, we learn that there are disallowances on the use of these funds. For instance, you cannot use it to pay salaries and to buy certain things. COA has also historically been looking at these expenses and there are limitations to its use, unlike the common perception that these funds can be used for anything and everything. That is not true,” Angara said.
“The guidelines on the allocation, use and reporting on the confidential and intelligence funds are contained in Joint Circular 2015-01 issued by COA, DBM, DILG, the GCG and DND. On top of this, the Senate, through Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has initiated the creation of a select oversight committee to check the use of the funds. These are in place to ensure the proper use of these funds,” Angara said.
Under Joint Circular 2015-01, the confidential funds and intelligence funds cannot be used to pay salaries and other benefits, representation or consultancy fees, or for the construction or acquisition of buildings or houses.
The COA chairperson has the power to conduct post audit of the liquidations of the disbursements made by the agencies.
To make sure that the CIFs are properly used, Angara said agencies which received confidential funds are required to submit quarterly accomplishment reports to the President and the two houses of Congress, while those who got intelligence funds submit their respective quarterly reports to the President.
“There will be periodic meetings of the select oversight committee to assess whether these funds are being used wisely by the agencies involved,” he added.
Senate Resolution No. 302, filed and sponsored by Zubiri, reactivated the Senate Select Oversight Committee on Confidential and Intelligence Funds.
The creation of the oversight committee has been done since the 10th Congress to look into the use of the CIFs. Under the resolution, the oversight committee will “enable the Senate to oversee the efficiency of concerned government institutions in the production of accurate and timely intelligence information to better deal with the threats to national security, including the maintenance of peace and order, thereby providing a safety environment and secure place of abode to the people.”
For the current 19th Congress, the composition of the committee is as follows: Zubiri as chairman, and Senators Angara, Ronald Dela Rosa, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, and Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III as members.
As chairman of the Senate panel to the bicameral conference committee meetings on the 2023 budget, Angara said he fought to maintain the amendments made by the Senate, including the adjustments made to the CIFs.
He denied that the passage of the bicam committee report was done in haste as there were “small meetings” held among contingents to iron out disagreeing provisions of the measure from the time the meeting started on November 25 up to the day when it was approved on December 5.
“You’re working against the clock here because you don’t want to have a reenacted budget. We’ve seen in past when there have been delays that these had an adverse impact on our economic growth figures. That’s how important government spending is to the performance of the economy. In the time of the pandemic, when the country, the economy is still recovering, the passage of a budget that is responsive, that spends on the right things and productive enterprises is very important,” Angara said.
‘DICTATES OF MALACAÑANG’
Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT), a member of the Makabayan bloc, lambasted the bicameral conference-approved budget which she said “was hastily approved at the floor last night when it was not even at the order of business.”
“The bicam budget is detestable because one, it disregarded the plenary approved budget of both Houses of Congress and just followed the dictates of Malacañang, and two, it slashed funds for social services just so that they can restore the incompetent red-tagging NTF-ELCAC and the DepEd confidential fund to surveil and repress students and teachers,” Castro said.
In contrast, Castro noted that the bicameral-approved budget of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) budget was slashed by P4.5 billion while that of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) by P4.1 billion, the Department of Health by P871 million, and the Department of Agriculture by P857 million “just to fund the P10 billion budget of the NTF-ELCAC and the P500 million confidential and intelligence fund of VP (Vice President) Sara Duterte.”
“This is indeed very unfortunate for our people, but we will exhaust all legal means so that this will not happen again, and that the people’s welfare and needs would always be the priority,” Castro said.
To deflect criticisms for its non-performance, Co urged the NTF-ELCAC to hasten the implementation of its projects this year.
He noted that only two percent had been completed or still ongoing, while 98 percent were either in the procurement stage or not even there.
“We agreed to restore the budget, but we instructed the agency to be more efficient. We want them to utilize the funds… We’re thinking of other ways on how to make it more efficient and more effective,” Co said.
Co said one suggestion is for NTF-ELCAC to partner with agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways which has the expertise in handling procurement and project implementation.
Col. Stephen Cabanlet, director of NTF-ELCAC’s Stakeholders Engagement, said the restoration of their P10 billion budget will help a lot in the government’s continuing campaign to neutralize the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
Cabanlet said the fund will be used primarily to pursue development projects in areas that are direly needing of roads and other facilities to improve the lives of the people.
“Its crucial (in the fight against the NPA) because if we are not going to accomplish these government projects, its (issue) going to be used by the enemy,” said Cabanlet, referring to the NPA.
“They would say the government failed to give you roads. That will become their weapon. They (rebels) would give rice, sardines to the residents and say ‘this came from us, the government can’t give you those’ and they may get the support of the people,” he also said.
He said the budget will also be used for irrigation projects, electrification and livelihood programs in “priority and influenced” areas which were earlier cleared by government forces of NPA presence.
“These are the areas where our soldiers immersed, did community service. They (soldiers) were able to identify the needs of these barangays, particularly infrastructure, like bridges, roads, and electricity,” said Cabanlet. — With Victor Reyes
