House scraps confidential funds for OVP, DepEd, DICT, DA, DFA
MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President, Department of Education (DepEd), Department Of Information And Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will not receive confidential funds, the House Committee on Appropriations said on Tuesday.
House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairperson Stella Quimbo said that the panel reached a “unanimous decision” to "remove or realign the controversial confidential funds" for the five agencies in the proposed 2024 national budget.
“As such the OVP, DepEd, DICT, DA, DFA are getting zero confidential funds under the 2024 General Appropriations Bill,” Quimbo said in a press briefing.
The mentioned agencies will instead receive a certain amount for “Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses” (MOOE).
“Generally ang thinking namin, ano ang mandato ng ahensya? Kung hindi kailangan ng surveillance at pwede gumamit ng MOOE at auditable, prefer namin na ganon ang paggastos,” Quimbo said.
(Generally in our thinking, what’s the agency’s mandate? If it does not need surveillance and if MOOE is plausible and auditable, we prefer that kind of spending.)
The following agencies will receive the MOOE according to Quimbo:
- P30 million for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
- P24 million for the Department of Information Communications Technology
- P30 million for the Department of Foreign Affairs
- P50 million for the Office of Ombudsman
- P150 million for DepEd’s govt assistance for students and teachers in private education
Realignment
Certain agencies in charge of protecting the West Philippine Sea will receive P1.23 billion in confidential funds, according to the House panel.
"Responding to the call of the times and the volatile situation in the West Philippine Sea, the small committee-as mandated by the House Plenary-has decided to realign CIFS to agencies whose principal mandate is to gather intelligence and ensure the protection of our national sovereignty," House committee on appropriations chairperson Rep. Elizaldy Co (Ako Bicol) said.
The following agencies will receive the realigned funds:
- P300M for the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency
- P100M for the National Security Council
- P200M for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for intelligence and ammunition.
- P381.8M for the Department of Transportation for airport development, and expansion of PAGASA Island airport.
In 2022 and 2023, the intelligence funds of the PCG allocated each year amounted to P10 million, according to a post of Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela on X (formerly Twitter) on September 26.
These funds are significantly lower than the P125 million confidential funds of the OVP in 2022 which according to the Commission on Audit was spent in 11 days.
READ: OVP spent P125 million confidential funds in 11 days
OP must also realign funds
An opposition lawmaker praised the decision to realign the confidential funds for five government offices.
"The overwhelming public clamor to remove and realign confidential funds has prompted Congress to realign such corruption-prone allocations. This is a huge win for the vast majority of Filipino people calling for transparency and accountability in government spending," Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas said in a statement.
She also challenged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to give up the Office of the President's confidential funds and realign to basic social services.
The confidential and intelligence funds made headlines in the past few weeks due to the OVP P500 million CIFs request which received fierce opposition from some lawmakers.
READ: Enough of the confidential fund spree — teachers
Last October 5, Vice President Sara Duterte has defended the CIFs saying that those who are against the confidential funds are “enemies of the nation" for obstructing peace.
Meanwhile, the proposed 2024 national budget will be submitted to the Senate on October 25. Co said the budget will be printed by two weeks time. —With reports from Cristina Chi
- Latest
- Trending
