Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 9) — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday said she will work in realigning the billions of pesos in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of some government offices to other more important programs and agencies that will need more resources to help them in protecting the country’s territory.
Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source, Hontiveros specifically mentioned realigning the proposed CIF of the Office of the President at ₱4.5 billion, the Office of the Vice President at ₱500 million, and the Department of Education at ₱150 million.
“I think we should support the increase of intel funds sa lahat ng ating mga totoong intelligence gathering agencies. And the (Philippine) Coast Guard may well be one of the important agencies in this day and age lalo na dahil katapat natin ang Tsina in the West Philippine Sea,” she said.
[Translation: I think we should support the increase of intel funds of all real intelligence gathering agencies. And the Coast Guard may well be one of the important agencies in this day and age, especially now that we are facing off with China in the West Philippine Sea.]
Lawmakers should also look into increasing the budget of intelligence units of agencies like the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Department of National Defense (DND), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the National Security Council instead of allocating funds to those that do not have such responsibilities, she added.
Under the proposed 2024 national budget, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which oversees the PNP, has a CIF of ₱906.62 million, while the DND, which has executive supervision over the AFP, has ₱1.898 billion.
The senator said this will be like the second part of her and Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel’s arguments last year against the “unreasonable confi and intel funds” of some offices under the 2023 national budget.
