Confidential funds for local government units must be justified, bounded by law, and accounted for, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Thursday.
Confidential funds would be allowable “so long as it is within the bounds of the law,” Interior Undersecretary Margarita Gutierrez said.
She said Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos was aware that LGUs had certain needs with regards to peace and order and security, which could be justified by confidential funds, Gutierrez told the media.
However, asked what she thinks of confidential funds that would be higher than the budget earmarked for basic services, Gutierrez said allocation must be equitable.
“We should go back to the basics, it should be in accordance to law, you must be able to justify it, there should be proper accounting and the spending should be commensurate to the needs of the people,” she said. “At the end of the day the funds are for the constituents.”
Former government officials earlier urged the Commission on Audit (COA) to probe the reported P2 billion worth of confidential funds that Vice President Sara Duterte used when she was a mayor of Davao City.
Data from COA showed Davao City had P2.697 billion in confidential funds from 2016 to 2022.
According to House Deputy Minority Leaders and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, this means Davao City had a daily spending of P1.235 million for the past six years.
Meanwhile, COA had said about 1,707 local government units, 57 national government agencies and 10 state firms are entitled to surveillance funds under their mandates.
They are thus required to submit quarterly accomplishment reports to the President and Congress and liquidate their surveillance expenses to the COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Fund Audit Unit.