‘Small committee’ working on budget amendments till Oct. 10

By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter

A SMALL committee of congressmen is expected to make changes to the country’s P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget until Oct. 10, the House Committee on Appropriations chairman said late Tuesday.

“Since the proposed amendments are of great interest to media and the Filipino people, we shall announce the changes at the proper time,” Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co, panel chairman, said in a statement.

Mr. Co said the small committee, which includes House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo, Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose M. Dalipe, and Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. Marcelino C. Libanan, held its first meeting on Monday.

The panel was created alongside the passage of House Bill No. 8980, the General Appropriations Bill for 2024, last Sept. 27.

The small committee would address “individual amendments” pertaining to fund allocations per department but gave no specifics other than committing to release all the details on the final changes by Oct. 10.

But Mr. Co hinted on amending the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of agencies. “There are numerous budget items lined up for amendments and/or realignment including the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of various civilian agencies,” he said.

Earlier, the House committed to realign the combined P650-million CIFs of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) to the budgets of intelligence and security forces amid rising tensions with China.

Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman said agencies without security and intelligence roles must also be prohibited from CIF allocations.

“All agencies not entitled to CIFs because of the nature of their functions and the extent of their mandate must be deprived of secret funds in their entirety and a mere reduction must not suffice,” Mr. Lagman said in a statement.

HB 8980 includes the proposed P10.14-billion in CIFs across several government agencies — P5.28 billion in intelligence funds and P4.86 billion in confidential funds.

Congressmen passed the measure on second and third reading on the same day President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. certified the national spending bill as urgent.

The Senate has been conducting its own budget hearings and is expected to pass its version of the measure in November.