VP Sara: Confidential Funds
VP Sara: Confidential Funds
BEYOND THE VEIL by The World, Unveiled.
Government | Finances
VP Sara: Confidential Funds
The World, Unveiled.
Kei Hang Derek Chan, Massimo Eviota & Monique Aguilar
October 6, 2023 | Posted on October 9, 2023
Maria Tan via ABS-CBN News/File
The news of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds has caused an uproar over its usage and allotment to the agencies under her jurisdiction. With the vague knowledge of how the funds given can be used responsibly, many begin to raise their concern about whether or not the use of confidential funds can be justified in this manner.
What are Confidential Funds?
Confidential funds are allocations from the national budget meant to be used for surveillance and intelligence-gathering activities in civilian government agencies. With the nature of these activities often encompassing sensitive matters of civilian and national safety, the expenditure of the funds is kept confidential.
A joint resolution released in 2015 by the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) details the guidelines for confidential funds. According to this, the spending of confidential funds is restricted to specific purposes, such as purchasing information in the interest of national security, rental of transport vehicles for confidential activities, procuring resources for confidential operations, and covering costs related to maintaining safe houses. On the other hand, confidential funds cannot be used for personal benefits for government officials and employees; representation; entertainment expenses, or construction and property expenditures.
National government agencies, local government units, government-owned, and controlled corporations may all have access to confidential funds. However, in accordance with the 2015 joint resolution, government agencies are required to prepare a physical and financial plan supporting their request for confidential funds. This plan must include the estimated cost per project, activity, and program.
In spite of this rigorous request process, the disbursements of confidential funds are difficult to audit, as the Commission on Audit (COA) must rely on the information provided to them by the government agencies spending these funds, which are not obligated to disclose the said information.
Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd Confidential Funds
In 2023, Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also the Secretary of Education for the Department of Education (DepEd), received ₱500 million in confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President (OVP), with another ₱150 million falling under the DepEd budget (Mateo).
The use of these funds has been heavily supported by Duterte, who defended her inclusion of the funds by attending a budget hearing at the House of Representatives. This is a far cry from the previous administration, under Leni Robredo, wherein no confidential funds were allotted to the OVP and DepEd from 2016 to 2022.
Inday Sara Duterte via Facebook
According to Duterte, the funds for the OVP and DepEd will be used independently of each other, to address issues such as sexual grooming, terrorism recruitment, and drug use in DepEd (Mateo). This comes with an emphasis on providing more protection for learners for a better learning environment within the education system.
However, this raised questions from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), who have stated that these funds can be used to better address shortages in equipment which include armchairs, textbooks, or laptops for teachers, and hiring of security personnel. Meanwhile, DepEd spokesman Michael Poa assured that the funds will be used for national security and public safety programs within DepEd’s mandate.
Criticisms Against the Need for Confidential Funds
Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman has criticised the allocation of confidential and intelligence funds to the OVP and the DepEd. He argues that they do not require such funds and that the secretive nature of the funds can be a source of corruption (Antonio).
Lagman, a member of the “slim opposition” was overwhelmed by the majority coalition's numerical superiority, and expressed frustration at the funds’ institutionalisation in the national budget. The similar opposition from the Senate was also unsuccessful in attempting to block their allocation. Michael Varcas via The STAR | File
The COA distinguishes between confidential expenses for civilian agencies' surveillance activities and intelligence expenses for military and intelligence operations. These confidential funds, along with the Office of the President's funds, are included in the 2023 National Spending Program.
Duterte has defended the appropriation of the said funds, arguing that her predecessors also received likewise–although former Vice President Leni Robredo denied having access to such funds in earlier interviews. On the other hand, former President Rodrigo Duterte requested and received ₱4.5 billion of such funds in his last year in office, whereas his late predecessor Benigno Aquino III, requested a significantly smaller ₱500 million during his term.
Call for Transparency
There is a discrepancy surrounding the utilisation of ₱125 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP for the year 2022. Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, the senior vice chairperson of the House Appropriations Committee, has revealed that the OVP spent ₱125 million in confidential funds transferred by the Office of the President in just 11 days rather than earlier reports of 19 days (Cabanban).
The matter had drawn attention after ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro first raised concerns that the funds were not originally present in the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA), claiming that the OVP spent ₱125 million on "newly created satellite offices" within 19 days. Castro is thus calling for an investigation into the matter since it appears that the funds were moved to a non-existent item in the 2022 GAA.
Rappler | File
The OVP has clarified that the portion of their budget report highlighting the confidential fund was not blocked but intended to be highlighted, found in the "Special Purpose Funds" category under "Contingent Fund" with Confidential Expenses amounting to ₱125 million (Lalu).
Quimbo further disclosed that the OVP submitted a liquidation report on January 17, 2023, and received an audit observation memorandum (AOM) from the COA on September 18, 2023, indicating ongoing scrutiny of the OVP's 2022 budget. This revelation comes amid debates regarding the legality of the fund transfer and calls for greater transparency in the handling of confidential and intelligence funds.
Closing Remarks
As Filipino citizens, it is our right to know where the use of the confidential funds under Sara Duterte goes. The secretive nature of confidential funds has led many to question the legitimacy of the provision of these funds, and whether the need for it is necessary.
While many may have differing opinions on how to overcome this pressing issue, the one constant that remains is how the use of confidential funds can be conducted properly. The repeated calls for transparency further heighten the point that the extravagant spending of confidential funds poses more issues—as compared to the previous administrations, especially in the view of the general public.
Therefore, this poses the question:
Will Sara Duterte’s confidential funds serve a beneficial purpose for the Filipino people?
Or
Will it be used against the best interests of our country?
Edited by Sofia Giulia Diño and Contessa Marie Ko
Research by Patricia Nicole Tan, Aeron James Pacho & Katherine Anne Jacob
WORKS CITED
Gregorio, Xave. “Confidential and Intelligence Funds Explained.” Philstar.com, 5 Oct. 2022, www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/10/05/2214494/confidential-intel-funds-national-budget-what-you-need-know
Mateo, Janvic. “Sara Getting Separate Confidential Funds as Vice President, DepEd Chief.” Philstar.Com, Philippine Star, 16 Sept. 2023, www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/09/16/2210042/sara-getting-separate-confidential-funds-vice-president-deped-chief.
Antonio, Raymund. “Lagman Insists Confidential, Intel Funds “Sources of Corruption.”” Manila Bulletin, 7 Dec. 2022, mb.com.ph/2022/12/07/lagman-insists-confidential-intel-funds-sources-of-corruption/
Cabanban, Seth. “Quimbo: OVP’s ₱125-M Confidential Funds Spent in Just 11 Days, Not 19.” Cnn, 25 Sept. 2023, www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/9/25/quimbo-ovp-spent-125m-confi-funds-in-11-days-.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2023.
Lalu, Gabriel Pabico. “Party-List Solon to COA: Probe vp Sara’s P125-M Confidential Funds in 2022.” INQUIRER.net, 24 Aug. 2023, newsinfo.inquirer.net/1821434/fwd-solon-seeks-probe-on-sara-led-ovps-confidential-funds-for-2022-as-leni-era-budget-didnt-have-any