COA to review rules on use of secret intel funds

THE COMMISSION on Audit (CoA) on Thursday said it will review this year a 2015 joint circular that prescribed guidelines on the use of confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs), which received a bigger allocation in the proposed 2024 national budget.
The budget for confidential and intelligence funds next year increased by P120 million to P10.14 billion — P5.28 billion in intelligence and P4.86 billion in confidential funds.
“Because of the increase in confidential and intelligence funds, we will try to convene with the same agencies who promulgated these rules so we can update this since it’s been eight years [since its first release],” CoA Chairperson Gamliel A. Cordoba told the House Appropriations Committee deliberations on the proposed P5.768-trillion budget for next year.
He said they are targeting to reconvene within the third quarter of the year and up with updated guidelines by year-end.
Assistant Commissioner Nilda B. Parlas said that Joint Circular No. 2015-01 dated Jan. 8, 2015 contains guidelines on the entitlement, release, use, reporting, and audit of CIFs. It was prepared by the CoA with the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM), of National Defense (DND), and of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Governance Commission for GOCCs.
Under the 2024 National Expenditure Program, the Office of the President was given P4.5 billion in intelligence funds, while the Department of Information and Communications Technology got confidential funds worth P300 million.
Others getting its share of CIFs are the Department of Agriculture with P50 million; the Presidential Security Group, P60 million; the DND, P60 million; the Bureau of Customs, P30.5 million; and the Department of Foreign Affairs, P5 million.
Mr. Cordoba noted that state auditors also have confidential funds in the amount of P10 million.
Deputy Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. France L. Castro noted that the P125-million CIF of the Office of the Vice-President is not part of the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“We observed that the [P125-million CIFs] were not part of the 2022 GAA but were realigned,” she said. Mr. Cordoba said the commission will look into the fund.
Senior Minority Leader and Northern Samar Rep. Paul R. Daza asked if CoA can submit a categorized list of CIF allocations, but Commissioner Mario G. Lipana said this is not possible due to security concerns.
Meanwhile, the commission’s overall proposed budget for next year is at P13.36 billion.
Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel A. Manuel noted that CoA’s budget is suffering a steady decrease, from P13.96 billion in 2023 and P15.02 billion in 2022. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz