DESPITE the recommendation of Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III that the Office of the President be stripped of its intelligence funds and its confidential funds reduced, these have remained “unchanged” in the bicameral conference committee tackling the P5.786 trillion budget for next year.
This was disclosed yesterday by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Committee on Finance chairman and head of the Senate bicam contingent, as the Senate and House of Representatives kicked off discussions to iron out the differing provisions in the 2024 General Appropriations Bill at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City.
“Well, it was not pushed hard enough. I think there were discussions but the OP said it needs the funds, especially nowadays that times are very uncertain. There is a war (between Israel and Hamas), there are lots of incidents of terrorism, hijacking, kidnapping.
But the good thing is that we did not increase it (CIFs)),” Angara said at the sidelines of the meeting.
The government has proposed a P10.707 budget for CIFs in 2024, with around P4.5 billion going to the OP — P2.250 million for CFs and P2.310 for intelligence funds.
During the second day of plenary debates for the 2024 proposed national budget, Pimentel manifested on the floor that President Marcos Jr. should review the amount being asked as confidential funds and that the OP’s intelligence funds be removed since it is not directly involved in national security and law enforcement.
He said the P2.25 billion being asked by the OP in CFs is too much as it contributes more to the country’s ballooning debt.
A total of 28 agencies have asked for CIFs in their respective budgets for next year, seven more than in 2016.
The Office of the Vice President has asked for a P500 million CF while the Department of Education, which is also headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, has eyed P150 million for its CF.
The House removed the CFs of the OVP and DepEd in its version of the budget measure.
Duterte, during the plenary debates of the proposed budget in the Senate, said her office would not pursue the CFs since “it seemed to be divisive.”
Angara said the Senate has adopted the House version of the budget wherein the CFs of civilian government agencies not directly involved in national security and law enforcement were not granted.
He said the Senate also realigned the CFs to other agencies that really needed the funds.
Angara said there are a lot of provisions in the 2024 GAB that they need to reconcile.
“Because there are instances that the same funds have been realigned or have been touched. So, we really need to talk about it so we can come to an agreement,” he added.
Angara said they are eyeing the ratification of the 2024 GAB on the 13th or 14th of December so it can be signed by the President before he takes a trip to Japan on the 16th.
Angara assured that the CFs stripped from civilian agencies will not be restored in the bicam.
“By and large in-adopt namin ‘yung ginawa ng House na ni-realign nila to security agencies ‘yung nanggaling sa civilian agencies (By and large we adopted the House version wherein they realigned [the CFs] to security agencies which came from civilian agencies,” he said, although he did not provide figures.
Angara, however, said that portions of the CF of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) may be granted.
“For increased cybersecurity because we all know that sometimes war does not happen in the battlefield alone. There can be fewer gunbattles because someone can disable your cyber networks. Our economy can come to a halt. They’re asking to restore even only a portion of their confidential funds,” he said.
During the plenary debates for the proposed national budget, Sen. Grace Poe, sponsor of the DICT budget, said the Senate has realigned the P300 million proposed CF of the agency to regular line-item budgets so the Commission on Audit can scrutinize them.
Instead, the Senate earmarked P280 million in additional funds for the DICT under its line-item budget.
Angara said they will have to consult Poe “if she’s amenable to that (to restore DICT’s CFs).”
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said the Senate has been “very consistent” in granting CIFs to the “usual agencies” like the Department of National Defense, PNP, the Department of Justice, Armed Forces, the Philippine Coast Guard and other agencies doing intelligence works.
“CIFs will only be granted to agencies that usually get CIFs — defense, law enforcement agencies and the DOJ to buy information, AFP and PCG because of the West Philippine Sea issue. We have to beef up, and strengthen our naval assets hindi purposely para tapatan ang China but to have a credible defense posture to protect our territorial integrity (not purposely to match with China but to have a credible defense posture needed to protect our territorial integrity),” he said.
Ejercito said the CF taken away from the DICT was transferred to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency under the DICT to fight cybercrimes.
He said the realigned funds are not considered as CF since they were placed under a line-item budget or to its monthly operating and other expenses (MOOE) which are subject to regular auditing by COA.
He said CIFs not granted to civilian agencies will definitely not be restored in the final version of the bicam.
He said the CF stripped from the DepEd was realigned to the agency’s capital outlay for the construction of classrooms.
“At least it is still in the department. It will be for a very specific purpose, talaga namang justifiable (it will be justifiable),” he added.
HOUSE APPEAL
Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), the leader of the House contingent to the bicameral meetings, appealed to their Senate counterparts to “approach this endeavor with a spirit of unity and guided by the principles of transparency, accountability, and the unwavering pursuit of the common good.
“Let us find a way to reconcile our differences, aligning them with the overarching programs of the present administration,” he said in his opening statement, urging his fellow lawmakers to adopt substantial changes introduced by the House that promote “transparency in public spending, safeguard national security, ensure food sufficiency and support a population still reeling from adverse effects of the pandemic.”
The House version stripped various government offices, including the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education of a total P1.23 billion in controversial confidential funds and allocated them to agencies at the frontline of monitoring and protecting the country’s territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea.
It was earlier reported that some senators were in favor of reinstating the confidential fund allocation, particularly those for the Office of the OVP and the DepEd, but Duterte later decided to just drop her request since it was a “divisive” issue that even led to a word war between her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte and the House leadership led by Speaker Martin Romualdez.
The House realigned the confidential funds as an additional budget to the National Intelligence and Coordination Agency, P300 million; National Security Council, P100 million; Philippine Coast Guard, P200 million for ammunition and intelligence activities; and the Department of Transportation, P381.8 million as an additional budget for the upgrade and expansion of the airport in Pag-Asa Island.
Co, chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, said that in crafting the House version of the budget bill, congressmen tried to strike a balance in handling debts and allocating funds to pivotal government projects and programs while being mindful of the administrative capacity of various agencies to achieve budget objectives.
The proposed budget for next year totals P5.786 trillion, including P1.748 trillion for debt payments and other expenditures that are automatically appropriated. General appropriations increased 9.5 percent to P4.02 trillion from the 2023 budget while unprogrammed funds declined by 65 percent to P281.9 billion.
Co said the House’s budget version “underscores the need for a comprehensive strategy to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability in program implementation.”
He said the House version was crafted to be “a more cost-efficient intervention” that is aligned “with the targets and goals for sustainable economic growth and public welfare” of the administration of President Marcos, Jr.
Romualdez also sought bipartisan support for the 2024 appropriations bill, saying the changes introduced by the House to the budget submitted by the Department of Budget and Management “will address the need to increase food production, shield poor consumers from rising prices of goods, and help enhance farmers’ and fisherfolks’ income.”
The House version allocated P20 billion for the rice subsidy program, P40 billion to improve irrigation and P1 billion for fisheries and post-harvest facilities
“The national expenditure program passed by the House, not only addresses food production and combatting food inflation, it is also investing more for the Filipino people and the future of this nation,” said the Speaker. “We have set aside around P125 billion for medical assistance, livelihood assistance, job creation, and scholarship programs for deserving students–the future of this nation,” he added.
The House leader appealed to the bicameral panel to quickly craft a final version of the 2024 budget so it could be passed before Congress goes on Christmas break. — With Wendell Vigilia
