SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III on Tuesday night urged his colleagues in the upper chamber to slash the proposed P2.25 billion confidential fund (CF) of the Office of the President and “eliminate” its P2.3 billion intelligence fund and realign these to intelligence-gathering agencies.
Pimentel said the OP is a civilian agency and not directly involved in intel gathering.
“The is not and should not be engaged in intelligence gathering considering the workload of the OP,” he said.
He added: “If the OP is truly busy, then it’s manpower/personnel shouldn’t have time anymore for surveillance work and intel gathering. Leave that to the specialists in the field of intelligence. Unless these people in the OP have too much time on their hands.”
The OP has been allotted P4.56 billion in CIFs — P2.25 billion in confidential funds and P2.3 billion in intelligence funds, which is nearly half of the proposed P10.14 billion CIFs of all government agencies for next year.
Pimentel made the call after a House of Representatives small panel on Tuesday stripped the proposed civilian funds of several civilian offices, including the Office of the Vice President, and realigned them to agencies involved in national security matters, among them the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Security Council, and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Aside from the OVP, other civilian agencies which were given zero CFs were the Department of Education (DepEd), which is also headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Department of Agriculture (DA), which is concurrently headed by President Marcos Jr.
Committee on Finance chairman Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said Pimentel’s proposal will be tackled when the proposed P5.768 billion national budget is discussed in plenary.
Angara said that after the interpellations on the OP budget, they will have the period of amendments, as what takes places in the normal budgeting process.
He said senators will be given the chance to scrutinize the OP proposed budget, including the allotted CIFs, during the plenary discussions.
“Yan ay ‘yung bawat senador o kongresista ay nagbibigay ng proposed amendments sa 2024 budget (That’s when each senator or congressman gives their proposed amendments to the 2024 budget),” he said in an interview with Senate reporters.
Angara appeared lukewarm to Pimentel’s proposal, pointing out that the OP could have activities that would require the CIFs.
“Because there are many things that I do not know that only the President knows because only the President knows what kind of intelligence information he needs. There are things which he knows that we don’t. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
He also expressed confidence the President’s CIFs would be approved in plenary, noting that the OP has always had confidential and intelligence funds in the past years, unlike the OVP.
“The OVP has no confidential funds the past years. I think that’s the reason why there seems to be a debate. I think that’s the root of it. And of course, there is political intramurals,” he said.
The OP’s proposed P10.707 billion was approved in the committee level yesterday and submitted for plenary discussions, including the P4.56 CIFs.
Angara was the only senator present during Wednesday’s budget hearing on the OP.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, in his opening statement, said the P10.707 billion proposed budget for the OP is 17.78 percent higher than the P9 billion budget for this year.
He said the increase in budget allocation will also be used to meet the logistical requirements of the President, including honoring invitations of foreign leaders to visit their countries, and other diplomatic affairs.
Bersamin said this is also an “opportune time” to revive necessary infrastructure works at the Malacañan Palace complex which were stalled at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘PRIORITIES’
Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva said the Senate “will consider” the decision of its counterpart in the House of Representatives to realign the confidential funds “but as tradition dictates, we have our own set of priorities.”
Villanueva said that “just like on my end,” he wants to see more programs focused on the creation of high-paying quality jobs and elevate the competitiveness of Filipino workers.
“As mentioned earlier, we will scrutinize everything to ensure that we will be proud of our national budget that we will pass before the year ends,” he said.
He said senators are expected to have different views on the House’s decision to strip the confidential funds of civilian agencies, and assured his colleagues that they will all be given the chance to air their concerns.
“We will respect each other’s position, hear their proposals, and we decide as an institution,” Villanueva said.
DICT
Villanueva said senators had an executive session with the DICT and were convinced that the agency should be given confidential funds.
“We need to empower our cybersecurity measures. Cybercrimes are rampant so that’s no brainer for me,” he said, adding that the amount to be given will still be tackled during the plenary discussions.
The small House panel has realigned the proposed P300 million confidential funds of the DICT for 2024, and instead gave it P25 million under its Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said that while he agrees that CIFs “are better left with departments or agencies that has something to do with national security and fight against criminality,” he would push for the provision of confidential funds to the DICT and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for their cybercrime programs.
“Because this also pertains to national security and cybercrime which victimizes thousands everyday especially the more vulnerable in the society. Cybercrime is the new enemy of society,” Ejercito said.
DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said they would appeal the House panel’s recommendation.
In a television interview, Uy said: “Yes, definitely, it’s going to be an appeal on our part because it sends a very wrong signal to the rest of the world. While cyber threats and cyber criminals are increasing and they’re becoming more sophisticated, and they have more funds actually to do so… the Philippines (will be) going against the tide of the rest of the world.”
“Defunding our cyber security is actually announcing to the world that we’re not interested in protecting our cyber borders (amid) all these cyber threats,” Uy said as he warned of the implication of removing the agency’s funding for cybersecurity program.
“It will be a big blow. Basically we’re sending the wrong message already, it will send a message to all the cyber criminals, (that) the Philippines is (an) open city, that they can commit whatever they want here and government will not be able to do anything to go after them or to prevent them from doing their criminal acts,” he said.
OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN
Ombudsman Samuel Martires has requested both the Senate and the House of Representatives to cut its P51 million confidential fund for next year to only P1 million and give it only another P1 million in 2025 “or until the end of my term of office as Ombudsman.”
The request was contained in a letter addressed to Angara dated October 6, 2023. A copy of the letter was also furnished to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Martires said he sent a similar letter to Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
“Consistent with my earlier pronouncement before your Committee, I would like to official request that notwithstanding its investigative functions, that the Office of the Ombudsman be appropriated the amount of one million pesos (1,000,000) for its Confidential and Intelligence Fund (CIF) in FYs 2024 and 2025 or until the end of my term of office as Ombudsman,” Martires said in his letter.
Martires’ seven-year term as the country’s chief graft investigator will end in August 2025.
Martires has expressed willingness to forego his office’s CF during the budget hearing in both the Senate and the House for the 2024 spending program of the Office of the Ombudsman.
During the Senate budget hearing on September 27, Martires told senators: “If it will only taint the reputation of the Ombudsman and its office, I am willing that this be scratched… I think we can survive without confidential funds.”
“I would like to be the first from the investigating agencies to request Congress that… (we will) not have confidential funds during (the rest of) my term of office,” he also said.
He also said that “if you just rely on your confidential or intelligence funds for you to be able to investigate, you will not be able to function properly… I can always smile at my friends and probably treat them for a cup of coffee [as payment for helping us].”
WELCOME
PCG spokesman Rear Adm. Armand Balilo welcomed the recommendation of the House panel to realign P200 million in CIFs to the PCG.
“That P200 million is a big help to improve the capability of the Philippine Coast Guard and improve our maritime security operations,” Balilo said.
The PCG’s confidential fund for this year is only P10 million.
The Coast Guard has been the subject of several harassment by China Coast Guard over the past months in the West Philippine Sea, including a laser-pointing incident that caused temporary blindness on crew members of a PCG vessel.
If the P200 confidential intelligence fund is finally realigned to the PCG, Balilo said this will lead to “better performance” of the agency.
“We will use this for our intelligence assets, assets used in gathering intelligence, upgrade of our equipment used in surveillance,” he said.
Balilo assured the public that they will judiciously spend the fund once officially given to the PCG. — With Victor Reyes
