Makabayan bloc hits Duterte's ₱4.5-B confidential, intel funds for 2022
Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc have slammed anew the "huge'" confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the President (OP) for 2022.

During the House of Representative's plenary deliberation on the proposed 2022 budget on Thursday, September 30, ACT Teachers' Party List Representative France Castro and Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite both questioned the enormous increase in the said funds of the OP.
Castro noted an 800-percent increase in the confidential and intelligence funds, which she considered enormous compared to the 2016 OP budget.
For 2022, President Duterte's office proposed total of P8.23 billion.
Of the amount, P2.25 billion was requested as confidential fund, and another P2.25 billion as intelligence fund.
Castro lamented that the said funds should have been allotted for teachers which is in need of an increase in their allowances.
Gaite, on the other hand, questioned the use of the huge confidential and intelligence expenses as well as its liquidation.
The intelligence fund is used by uniformed personnel like the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines while the confidential fund is for non-uniformed personnel, is allotted for intelligence, surveillance activities for civilians, agencies involved in peace and order. (Melvin Sarangay)