With intel funds, come greater accountability — Escudero

SEN. Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero said government officials asking for confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) should be held with greater accountability to ensure that public funds are spent efficiently.

The senator on Wednesday said the concerned public officials should submit their CIF utilization plan under the 2024 national budget.

SEN. Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero

Escudero reminded Cabinet members and heads of government agencies to bare their “physical and financial plan” on how they intend to spend their requests for confidential funds “without violating the confidential nature of the funds.”

The Senate Committee on Finance discussed on Tuesday the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd), which included the P150-million confidential fund.

“The point I am driving at and the reason I am asking for this, is to disabuse the thoughts of the people that [a] confidential fund is a secret fund,” Escudero said.

“There are specific rules as to where this can be spent, how this can be spent, and to disabuse the mind of people that this is like a secret fund, it is not,” he said.

Escudero said the submission of the expenditure is “secret but they are only specific items that you can spend it on.”

“Since it is the discretion of Congress, as I heard the Madam [Education] Secretary and Vice President [Sara Duterte] say, to grant this or not, we will grant it for as long as we see the physical and financial plan broken down according to the JMC without violating the confidentiality that you need in order to perform your job,” Escudero said.

He was referring to the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2015- 01 issued by the Department of Budget and Management, the Commission on Audit, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of National Defense, and the Governance Commission for the GOCCs (GCG) on Jan. 8, 2015 which prescribed “guidelines on the entitlement, release, use, reporting and audit of confidential and/or intelligence funds.”

He noted that per JMC, confidential fund refers to the lump-sum amount provided as such in the General Appropriations Act for National Government Agencies, in appropriation ordinances for local government units, and in the corporate operating budgets or COBs for government owned and controlled corporations, for their confidential expenses.

Intelligence expenses, on the other hand, refer to those related to intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel and intelligence practitioners that have direct impact on national security.

“In short, confidential funds may be lodged in civilian agencies, intelligence funds cannot be lodged in civilian agencies. Intelligence funds only belong to military or uniformed agencies,” Escudero said.