Office of the President’s 2025 spending plan breezes through House committee

THE HOUSE of Representatives appropriations committee on Monday swiftly ended its hearing on the P10.50-billion proposed budget of the Office of the President (OP) despite questions on the President’s foreign policy and secret funds.

Abra Rep. Ching B. Bernos moved for the termination of the budget hearing as part of the “long-standing tradition and practice” of the panel to extend “parliamentary courtesy” to the OP.

The motion was carried even as some members of the panel objected to the budget’s swift approval, arguing that no government agency should be exempt from congressional scrutiny.

“If… we terminate the deliberations now… we are showing that the President himself is… evading the process of Congress to undergo scrutiny,” Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel A. Manuel said in mixed English and Filipino during the OP’s congressional budget briefing.

The OP’s spending plan should be quizzed by congressmen, he added, noting President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s statement last week that no government agency is exempt from congressional grilling.

The President’s proposed budget for 2025 stood at P10.50 billion, 1.86% lower than its P10.70 billion 2024 budget.

The OP is asking for P4.56 billion in secret funds for next year, of which P2.25 billion will go towards confidential funds with the remaining P2.31 billion for intelligence purposes, according to the 2025 National Expenditure Program.

Some lawmakers raised questions the proposed confidential and intelligence funds, pointing out that it made up nearly half of the President’ budget.

“For the Office of the President’s P10-billion budget, almost half of it is allocated to confidential and intelligence funds,” Deputy Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. France L. Castro told the panel in Filipino.

Ms. Castro said the OP’s secret fund spending is not geared towards national security purposes.

The CIF is an allocation meant for surveillance and intelligence information gathering activities, according to a 2015 joint circular between the Commission on Audit, Defense, Budget and Interior and Local Government departments.

In the same hearing, Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas raised concerns about the Marcos administration’s stance on foreign policy amid increasing tensions in the South China Sea.

“We have crucial questions about foreign policy. The government’s close relations with the US are very concerning amid the growing tensions in the West Philippine Sea,” Ms. Brosas said in mixed Filipino and English, citing the additional military bases, Balikatan exercises, war-provoking missile systems in Ilocos Norte, and the Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy or 123 Agreement.

“It seems the government is ready for war.”

For Pangasinan Rep. Maria Rachel J. Arenas, who heads the House foreign affairs committee, these demonstrates the President’s commitment to protect the security and sovereignty of the nation.

“In fact, his stand… on the West Philippine Sea is really to show the world that… we will not give anything away,” Ms. Arenas told BusinessWorld after the congressional briefing. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio