Enough of confidential fund spree – teachers

MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Sunday called on the government to stop the confidential fund “spree” that it fears has become a tradition in the Philippine budget system that has been depriving Filipinos of better living conditions.

ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said now that Congress plans to realign the confidential funds of multiple government agencies toward national security, lawmakers should ensure that the confidential funds of agencies that have nothing to do with national security would be realigned to public services.

“The heaps of intelligence funds and confidential funds allocated for agencies that have nothing to do with ensuring national security should be channeled into basic services budgets. While our public services are suffering, those with access to confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) are enjoying money that could be better spent by the people,” Quetua said in a statement.

About 10 government agencies, including the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education, are expected to be affected by the House of Representatives’ plan to realign confidential funds to national security agencies amid China’s continued aggressive acts inside Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.

Quetua also lamented recent findings that Davao City appeared to be the biggest spender of confidential funds among the country’s cities and municipalities between 2016 and 2022 when it was still under mayor Sara Duterte, now the vice president and education secretary.

“The P2.697 billion confidential fund expended by VP Sara Duterte when she was the mayor of Davao City could have given 77,000 teachers additional P5,000 cash allowance yearly in six years, or the P385 million per year could have built 154 new classrooms – or 924 new classrooms in six years,” he said.

“If the P385 million spent per year – or P2.697 billion within six years – were given to the education sector, DepEd would have already procured a lot of educational and teaching equipment. Just like laptops, that amount is equivalent to 11,332 laptops,” Quetua added.

ACT said that Duterte’s involvement in the confidential fund-spending controversies was a worrisome indicator of her incapacity to handle DepEd and OVP funds properly.

ACT added that the public needs to be more vigilant about government spending and reiterated its call to abolish confidential funds altogether in the 2024 budget.

“We will not weaken our vigilance for the people’s fund, especially the funds for the future of our youth and the well-being of teachers. VP Duterte needs to remember that she is not special. She is not exempt from officials who should be accountable to the people. We will continue to ensure that whoever squanders the public treasury will be held accountable,” Quetua added.

Return the funds

Meanwhile, the progressive Bayan Muna party-list said the leadership of the Commission on Audit (COA), under Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba, should ensure the “return” of P2.6 billion in confidential funds it “disallowed” when Duterte was Davao City mayor from 2016 to 2022.

“It is unimaginable for a local public official to spend P2.6 billion in confidential funds in just six years! Were these funds fully spent to the last centavo each year? That is unbelievable,” Neri Colmenares, former Bayan Muna representative, said yesterday.

Colmenares noted that COA was conducting a “special audit” of Duterte’s confidential and intelligence funds when she was still local chief executive.

“COA must make sure if this was fully liquidated with supporting documents of payments or receipts,” he added.

An initial probe showed that the confidential funds of the Davao mayor had amounted to P144 million in 2016, P293 million in 2017 and P420 million in 2018, followed by an average of P460 million in 2019 until 2022.

“If all these have been allocated and spent in just six years, surely the people of Davao deserve to know, as these could have been spent on education, free medicine, health services and other social services for the people instead of being spent in a difficult to audit item called CIF,” Colmenares said.

When auditing CIFs, state auditors could only depend on the transparent and accurate submissions of government agencies, making confidential and intelligence funds difficult to audit.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro – a vocal Duterte critic – said she was baffled by the COA report, noting that “appropriate charges should be filed” if it is found that Duterte violated COA rules governing CIFs.

“This would mean P1.235 million a day of secret spending for six years. This is way bigger than even the richest cities in the country like Makati City and Quezon City. COA should thoroughly examine if this fund was indeed used for confidential purposes,” she said.

“If it is proven otherwise, the money should be returned and legal action should be taken,” she added.

Castro also argued that Duterte’s desire to have a confidential fund in her national office could have been influenced by her experience as former Davao City mayor.

“Perhaps this is why Vice President Sara Duterte is so eager to have a confidential fund in her national office, as she may have become accustomed to such a practice during her time as mayor of Davao,” Castro said. — Delon Porcalla