The Commission on Audit’s admission of experiencing difficulty in auditing confidential and intelligence funds disbursements has made it necessary for Congress to pass the bill creating a joint congressional oversight body to examine multi-billion peso allocations for the said program.
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate aired this view as he called on the House leadership to fast track the passage of House Bill 6261 or Intelligence and Confidential Funds Transparency Act of 2020.
During the budget presentation of the Commission on Audit, Chairman Michael Aguinaldo admitted to lawmakers that audit examiners experience difficulty in examining expenditures for CIFs.
Aguinaldo pointed out that intelligence informers just do not issue receipts for the money they get for feeding government intelligent units with vital information about national security.
For 2022, CIF funds proposed for allocation to various agencies of government is P8.6 billion.
"With around P8.6 billion in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) which is among the highest in Philippine budget history, and the Commission on Audit (COA) admission of difficulty auditing the use of such funds, it becomes imperative now that Congress should exercise oversight powers over such gargantuan public funds, " said Zarate.
"CIF has become so large and its use remain hidden that abuse and misuse of the funds are ever present, more so under a tyrannical regime, and, also now that elections are coming,” he explained.
He urged Congress to assert its power over the purse and see if the funds it allocated were indeed used for its published purpose," added the Davao-based solon.
"It is high time that the government rectify this highly anomalous mode of allocating intelligence and confidential funds that are free from audit, public scrutiny and official accountability,” said Zarate.
Aside from Zarate, other authors of HB 6261 are Bayan Muna Reps. Ferdinand Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat.
HB 6261 proposes the creation of a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Intelligence and Confidential Funds that will conduct a semi-annual review of the status and implementation of programs and activities financed with CIF.