SEN. Francis Pangilinan has filed a bill that sets guidelines in the use of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) and sets penalties for their irregular use, and a proposed measure that seeks to stop and penalize ticket scalping.
In a Facebook post, Pangilinan said the Confidential and Intelligence Funds Act seeks to identify the government agencies that will only be granted CIFs in a bid to prevent their irregular use.
“Every centavo of government funds must be accounted for. This is too big, too secretive, and can easily be abused — that’s the problem with confidential and intelligence funds. That’s why I will push for the passage of the Confidential and Intelligence Funds Accountability Act,” Pangilinan said.
Under the bill, he said that CIFs will strictly be granted to identified agencies that have the mandate on security matters.
He said the appropriated CIF to any agency should not exceed 10 percent of its total budget allocation, and CIFs should not be used for personal, political, and non-security matters.
He said agencies that appropriated the CIFs should submit regular reports to the Commission on Audit, which will include a “public summary” on how they were utilized.
Violators of the Act will face perpetual disqualification to hold public office, aside from a jail term.
“There should be no room for secrecy and abuse in an honest government. It is time that we clear things up and utilize funds well for an honest and accountable governance,” he said.
Pangilinan also filed a proposed measure that will stop the overpriced selling of tickets for concerts, sports events, movies, and the like.
He said the Anti-Scalping Act will prohibit the selling of tickets priced more than 10 percent of their face value without the express consent of the organizers, whether they are sold online or physically. Funding scalping activities will also be deemed unlawful.
Pangilinan said selling tickets without a price or selling tickets through unauthorized platforms will be prohibited. It will also be unlawful to conspire and attempt to engage in scalping activities.
He said event organizers are mandated to put up warning signs against scalping on their websites and at the venue, and must implement internal policies and reporting mechanisms.
He said the public can report scalpers to the Department of Justice, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of the Interior and Local Government, or any law enforcement agencies.
Appropriate sanctions will be imposed on offenders.
“The excitement of fans should not be taken advantage of. There’s too much jacking up of prices, and tickets are suddenly sold out. The selling of tickets is done on the dark internet. These are the effects of scalping, which has long burdened the people who want to watch concerts, sports events, and plays,” he said.
Pangilinan also said he will push for a zero budget to government agencies that fail to present concrete plans for the full implementation of RA 11321 or the Sagip Saka Act, a law that allows national and local governments to buy directly from farmers and fisherfolk without public bidding.
He said RA 11321 was signed into law in 2019 but six years since its enactment, many agencies and local governments have yet to uphold its provisions.
He said he filed a resolution for the appropriate Senate committee to determine how the agencies, including the Department of the Interior and Local Government, are implementing this law.
He said he will also raise this issue when the budget session opens.
