BATANGAS province did not spend even a single centavo on confidential programs and activities in 2022 and 2023 even if all of its neighbors have been reporting tens of millions in covert spending over the same period.
Separate disclosures of expenditures through submissions of financial statements by the five provinces in Region 4A or Calabarzon revealed that Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Quezon all reported spending sums allocated under the Confidential Fund.
Calabarzon is the only region with three provinces in the list of top 20 wealthiest in terms of assets with Rizal at second place, Batangas at fourth, and Cavite at sixth.
Based on the breakdown of its Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), the provincial government of Cavite spent the biggest amount for confidential purposes in the region, shelling out P208.5 million in 2022 and P183 million in 2023.
Under Joint Circular No. 2015-01 issued by the Commission on Audit (COA), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of National Defense (DND), and the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), confidential spending of local government units must be directly related to their Peace and Order Programs (POP).
In fact, the POP is one of the delimiting factors that determine just how much an LGU can allocate as confidential funds.
The same circular provides that activities and programs eligible for confidential spending are limited to crime prevention and law enforcement activities; capability development for personnel of law enforcement agencies and volunteers; and programs related to illegal drugs, illegal gambling, counter insurgency, smuggling, human trafficking, and against illegal logging, mining, and fishing.
Rizal province declared P82 million in confidential spending in 2022 and P83 million in 2023.
Quezon province spent P60 million in confidential funds in 2022 and again in 2023, while Laguna disclosed incurring P27 million in 2022 and the same amount in 2023.
Neither Laguna nor Quezon made it in last year’s top 20 wealthiest provinces list.
While declaring zero confidential expenses for both years, Batangas reported spending P7.37 million under extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (EME) in 2022 and P7.33 million last year.
Unlike confidential funds, the EME is unrelated to security or peace and order issues. Instead, it is made available for expenses that are not covered by regular budget allocations, including meetings and conferences, official entertainment, public relations, contribution to civic organizations, office equipment and supplies, among others.
