Manila, Philippines — The House of Representatives has terminated its plenary deliberations on the proposed P10.16-billion budget of the Office of the President (OP) for fiscal year 2027.
Unlike the Office of the Vice President, whose plenary interpellation was terminated without questions, the OP had to face and respond to questions and clarifications from several members of the plenary.
It can be recalled that during the committee-level hearing, the budget deliberations for the OP were terminated after it was granted interparliamentary courtesy.
During the House plenary session on Wednesday, Bataan Representative Albert Garcia defended the proposed budget of the OP as its budget sponsor in the Lower House. Executive Secretary Ralph Recto was also present in the plenary to represent the OP.
One of the issues scrutinized by ACT Teachers Party-list Representative Antonio Tinio during the interpellation was the proposed P4.5 billion confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of the OP in 2027.
This amounts to nearly 45% of the office of the President’s total proposed budget, while it also accounts for nearly 42% of the total P10.77 billion proposed CIF under the P7.2-trillion 2027 General Appropriations Bill.
Tinio noted that while the issue of the alleged misuse of confidential and intelligence funds by the OVP and the Department of Education under Vice President Sara Duterte has come to public attention, there is an even greater need to scrutinize how the government’s CIF will be used.
Based on data presented by Tinio during the plenary debates, in 2020, still under the Duterte administration, CIF accounted for as much as 54.87% of the total budget of the OP.
From then until President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed office, the total CIF allocated to the Office of the President reportedly remained at around P4.5 billion.
Amid the current issue, Tinio argued that the public should know how the government and the OP use their CIF.
Garcia explained that intelligence funds are used for measures and programs related to national security, while confidential funds are focused on efforts to ensure peace and order in the country.
Garcia also defended the OP’s use of CIF, insisting that its audit and credit notice from the Commission on Audit are up to date.
He said the unmodified audit on the OP pertains specifically to the CIF, in contrast to the COA’s unmodified opinion on the OVP’s overall budget, in response to Tinio’s point.
Among the activities funded through the OP’s CIF are those of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), particularly efforts to dismantle POGO operations and scam networks; support for the implementation of activities of the National Task Force to End Local Communists and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC); and activities of the Philippine Center of Transnational Crime, the Anti-Terrorism Council, and others.
Tinio also asked the OP to provide copies of accomplishment reports and a general breakdown of how much CIF was allocated for these activities.
The Lower House instructed the budget sponsor and representatives of the OP to comply with the request, provided that it remains within the regulations of Congress.
After several more rounds of interpellation concerning high prices, electricity, fuel, peace implementation, local government funding, and other issues, the plenary interpellation on the OP’s 2027 budget was finally terminated.—Mia Layaguin, Eurotv News