Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 10) — A small committee at the House of Representatives has unanimously decided not to give confidential funds to some civilian agencies in the 2024 budget bill and realign them instead to those focused on national security.
The Office of the Vice President, and the Departments of Education, Information and Communications Technology, Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs have been allocated \”zero confidential funds\” under the 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo said on Tuesday.
Quimbo said that instead of confidential funds, the abovementioned agencies will receive allocations of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), adding that the small committee weighed on the mandates of government bodies.
\”Do’n sa pag-perform ng mandato, kung hindi kailangan gumawa ng surveillance at pwede gumamit ng MOOE na ibig saibihin auditable naman ang expenses na ‘yan, prinefer namin na gano’n ang paggastos,\” said Quimbo, a senior vice chairperson of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations.
\”Kung pwede maging auditable, auditable na lang,\” she added.
[Translation: In performing their mandates, if they are not required to do surveillance and use MOOE instead, which is an auditable expense, we prefer that kind of spending…If it can be auditable, just stick to auditable.]
The four-person small committee — composed of Quimbo, House Appropriations Commitee Chairperson Elizaldy Co, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, and House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan — is tasked with introducing amendments to the proposed ₱5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, which the House already passed on third and final reading on Sept. 27.
Based on the panel’s recommendation, Quimbo said a total of ₱1.23 billion in confidential funds were realigned to the following agencies that are monitoring and protecting the country’s territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea:
– ₱300 million for National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA)
– ₱100 million for the National Security Council (NSC)
– ₱200 million for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for intelligence activities and ammunition
– ₱381.8 million for the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for airport development/expansion of Pag-asa Island Airport.
\”This is only part of the ₱3 billion total allocation for the said airport,\” Quimbo explained the last item. \”The ₱381 million was the only portion taken from confidential funds.\”
Co added the panel wants to encourage the master planning of the Kalayaan Island Group, which is located northwest of Puerto Princesa and at the northeastern section of the disputed Spratly Archipelago.
The realigned ₱1.23 billion is part of the ₱194 billion budgetary changes and realignment introduced by the panel for the proposed 2024 budget, which included allocations for government programs for agriculture, health, and education.
Quimbo said the small committee believes the \”House of Representatives is on the right side of history\” and that they are responding to the \” call of the times\” amid tensions in the contested waterway.
She said the following agencies will receive MOOE funding next year instead of secret funds:
– ₱30 million for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)
– ₱25 million for DICT
– ₱30 million for DFA
– ₱50 million for the Office of the Ombudsman
– ₱150 million for DepEd’s aid to private school students and teachers
The lawmaker said the small committee decided not to convert the confidential funds of the OVP to MOOE allocation.
The small committee stripped off the confidential fund request of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is concurrently the education secretary, for ₱500 million for the OVP and ₱150 million for the DepEd in the proposed 2024 budget.
Duterte is under heavy criticism following the controversial spending of ₱125 million in confidential funds in 2022, although her office was not given the expense for that fiscal year.
For 2024, the Marcos administration sought ₱10.14 billion in confidential and intelligence funds, of which ₱4.5 billion will be allocated to the Office of the President.
Budget officials requested ₱50 million in confidential funds for the DA, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also heads, and ₱300 million for DICT and ₱5 million for DFA.
In response to the development, DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Dy said his agency is “saddened,” raising the recent attack on the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the importance of cybersecurity.
He added that the agency is appealing to the House to \”at least increase the non-confidential portions of our budget.\”
In a statement, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas raised that in last year’s Bicameral Conference Committee, Congress restored DepEd’s confidential fund for 2023, as well as the slashed ₱10-billion funding for the government’s anti-communist task force.
Brosas also challenged Marcos to give up his confidential and intelligence fund request and redirect the money to basic social services.
The Senate has yet to tackle the proposed 2024 budget in its plenary. Once done, the two chambers will call a Bicameral Conference Committee to resolve their versions of the budget bill.
