Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 10) — Despite the withdrawal of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education’s (DepEd) request for secret funds, Senator Koko Pimentel said the bicameral committee can still restore the collective ₱650 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).
The Senate minority leader added that “anything goes” under the bicam, opening a way for other lawmakers to restore the withdrawn allocations and include it in the ratified General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2024.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said the issue on the CIF for the OVP and DepEd is already “moot and academic,” insisting that Duterte herself does not want the funds reinstated at the bicam.
However, Pimentel maintained that there is “no assurance” to this and that, even if the bill’s version under the House of Representatives and the Senate align in terms of CIF allocation, the bicam could still decide to disagree and reinstate specific funds.
“Yan ang katotohanan na hindi maganda sa bicam na anything goes po doon (That is the ugly truth of the bicam, anything goes there). Theoretically speaking, the bicam has the power to introduce anything,” he told reporters on Friday.
“Farfetched but, of course, anything can happen in Philippine politics and that would be one of the biggest disappointments and one of the political stories of the year kung mangyari ‘yan (if that happens),” he said.
Pimentel made the comment after Duterte announced that the OVP and DepEd will no longer pursue the multimillion pesos in CIFs earlier included in their budget.
The senator also said the CIF issue, if it already has aligned versions from both chambers, should not be in the bicam’s agenda as the committee’s role is mainly to “harmonize the disagreeing provisions” under the GAA.
Pimentel added that he sincerely hoped that Duterte will keep true to her public withdrawal.
“Klarong-klaro naman ‘yung statements kahapon. Syempre ang assumption natin (The statements yesterday were clear. Of course, we assume) that the VP is not only a politician, an elected public official, sensitive to the sentiments of the people but is also a person of her word,” he said.
The minority leader also urged other departments including the Office of the President, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department Of Information And Communications Technology to withdraw their requests for CIFs.
Last year, the bicam panel restored the slashed ₱150-million confidential fund for DepEd.
In September, Duterte drew flak after Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo cited an audit report showing that the ₱125 million in confidential funds transferred to the OVP by the Office of the President was spent in only 11 days.
He added that he now expects that Vice President Sara Duterte will be a “person of her word” in refusing the secret funds
