NATIONAL government agencies reported P6.028 billion in intelligence expenses and another P4.415 billion on confidential activities, or a total of P10.443 billion, to exceed the P10 billion mark for the very first time in history.
According to the 511-page 2023 Annual Financial Report (AFR) on National Government Agencies (NGAs) released by the Commission on Audit (COA) on December 2, 2024, the 2023 total confidential and intelligence expenses (CIE) was P685.65 million higher compared to the P9.757 billion spent in 2022.
In 2021, the last full year of the previous administration, the total CIE was at P9.786 billion, the second highest in history.
A breakdown of the expense item showed the Office of the President, headed by the Commander in Chief of the country’s armed forces, spent P2.25 billion confidential fund (50.96 percent of the total) and P2.31 billion intelligence fund (38.32 percent of the total) last year.
Other agencies with sizeable confidential expenses were the Office of the Justice Secretary with P522.69 million, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) with P500 million, and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) with P375 million.
Government agencies that reported substantial intelligence expenses other than the OP were the General Headquarters-Armed Forces of the Philippines (GHQ-AFP) with P1.735 billion, the Philippine National Police (PNP) with P936.6 million, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), and the Philippine Army with P444 million.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF), the Philippine Navy (PN), and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), despite extensive relief and rescue and interdiction operations against smuggling and intrusion of foreign vessels into the country’s territorial waters, only reported P17 million, P40.42 million, and P10 million intelligence expenses, respectively.
Congress had zero allocation for either intelligence or confidential programs or activities, hence reported zero CIE.
OVP CONFI FUNDS
Based on the breakdown of confidential spending in the 2023 AFR for NGAs, the OVP’s P375 million expenditure was bigger than the combined confidential use of NICA, which spent P127.4 million; the National Security Council (NSC), P90 million; and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), P146.17 million.
Last week, two impeachment complaints were filed with the House of Representatives seeking to unseat Vice President Sara Duterte based on allegations of culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
Both complaints had in their core imputations of misuse of hundreds of millions of public funds arising from questionable liquidation of confidential expenditures and Duterte’s refusal to answer clarificatory questions in an ongoing congressional inquiry.
The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability is looking into suspected confidential fund spending misuse by the OVP and the DepEd in 2022 and 2023.
The COA has issued Audit Observation Memorandums (AOMs) for the OVP’s P375 million confidential funds spent in the first three quarters of 2023 because of alleged irregularities.
The committee, chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua, is also looking into the P112.5 million in confidential funds allocated in 2023 to the DepEd when Duterte was still heading the department.
The panel is likewise probing how the OVP spent P73 million out of its P125 million confidential funds in 2022 in just 11 days. The COA has disallowed the P73 million and has asked Duterte and the agency’s disbursing officers to return the amount to the national coffer.
Under the 2024 national budget, both the House of Representatives and the Senate stripped the OVP of confidential funds despite its request of a bigger allocation at P500 million.
Congress also slashed the P150 million confidential fund request of the DepEd under Duterte’s leadership.
Lawmakers questioned the allocation of huge amounts for confidential expenses to the OVP and the DepEd when neither agency has any involvement in national security nor law enforcement functions.
