Former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon is proposing to restrict confidential and intelligence funds to agencies responsible for security and peacekeeping operations.
He said these funds should only be allocated to organizations–military or civilian–such as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is directly engaged in intelligence gathering for security and peace and order purposes.
“Only those agencies involved in gathering intelligence should be given confidential and intelligence funds. That should be the clear standard,” Drilon said.
He said agencies not directly involved in confidential and intelligence gathering such as the Department of Education (DepEd) should rely on the information provided by intelligence agencies rather than receiving confidential funds.
“Agencies like DepEd, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), etc. should draw information from intelligence gathering agencies,” said Drilon.
These intelligence agencies will include the Armed Forces, the Philippine National Police, the NBI, among others, Drilon said.
Drilon’s proposal comes in the wake of growing concerns surrounding the allocation and use of confidential funds such as those given to the Department of Education amounting to P150 million under the proposed 2024 spending outlay.
Drilon had earlier questioned the decision of the Office of the President to transfer P221.42 million to the Offie of the Vice President, P125 million of which was classified as confidential funds, even though there was no provision for it in the 2022 budget of the OVP.
“The decision raises serious concerns regarding the constitutionality of the fund transfer,” Drilon recently said.
The former justice secretary said he did not agree with the Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, a former chief justice, who justified that the release was covered by Special Provision No. 1 under the 2022 Contingent Fund which authorizes the Office of the President to approve funding requirements of new or urgent activities that need to be implemented.
“In the case of Araullo v. Aquino, the Supreme Court ruled that the power to augment cannot be used to fund non-existing items in the budget. This is the interpretation of the Supreme Court. The interpretation of the Constitution cannot be altered or changed by an act of Congress,” Drilon stressed.
The Office of the Executive Secretary had recently provided a breakdown of the P221.42 million that the Office of the President transferred to the Office of the Vice President in 2022. Of the amount, the OES said that P125 million were confidential funds for “newly created satellite offices.”
The former senator, however, also said that the confidential and intelligence funds cannot be used for building satellite offices.
Meanwhile, Drilon advised the Senate to convene more regularly the oversight committee on the use of confidential and intelligence funds to review the utilization of the multi-billion funds:
Drilon also proposed a special provision in the General Appropriations Act that would require the submission of utilization reports to Congress before CIFs can be disbursed to the relevant agencies, thus enhancing oversight and ensuring responsible expenditure of these funds.
Additionally, Drilon suggested inviting the Commission on Audit (COA) to participate in the oversight panel briefings on CIFs.