MANILA — Rep. Raoul Manuel raised concerns over the Office of the President’s (OP) budget request for confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), highlighting that it surpasses the budgets of the government’s intelligence agencies such as the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the National Security Council (NSC).
Manuel pointed out that the OP’s request for CIF for 2025 is P4.560 billion, the same amount requested in 2023 and 2024. This figure exceeds NICA’s proposed budget of P2.242 billion and NSC’s proposed budget of P896.9 million.
Specifically, NICA’s budget request includes P991.2 million for CIF out of its total P2.242 billion, while NSC has requested P250 million for CIF.
Manuel questioned if the OP has a mandate to “act like an intelligence agency.”
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) confirmed that the OP has the highest CIF allocation, justifying it by stating that the President, as commander-in-chief, operates “with inputs from security agencies.”
Manuel reiterated his stance that the administration should abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and reallocate its budget and CIF funds to education and social services.
“Ibig sabihin mas malaki ang intelligence funds under the current admin tapos Madam Chair yung 4.5 billion pesos annually na confidential and intelligence funds para po yang 12.5 million na confidential and intelligence funds per day for the Office of the President,” Manuel said.
“Madam Chair, mandate po ba ng Office of the President to act like an intelligence agency? Kasi yun po ang nakukuha natin from the figures sa budget ng OP,” he added.
“Yes po, with inputs po sa security agencies,” a DBM official responded.
“Kung icocompare natin intel fund pa lang ng OP 2.31 billion na. Mas mataas pa doon sa total budget na ng ating intelligence agency na NICA which is 2.19 billion. Madam Chair tingin natin supposedly isang civilian agency na nagooversee sa lahat ng mga ahensya tinalo pa niya ang NICA,” Manuel continued.
The NTF-ELCAC has P10.294 billion programmed funds under the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and obligations amounting to P2.833 billion as of June 30.