Marikina City 2nd Rep. Stella Quimbo (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

A total of 11 agencies were affected by the House of Representatives' rationalization of confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) in the P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or proposed national budget for 2024. 

"Small committee" member Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo made this clarification Wednesday, Oct. 11 or a day after the panel announced that P1.23 billion have been realignment in the 2024 GAB as a result of this rationalization. 

"A total of P1.23 billion meant for confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) of several key government agencies has been realigned in fresh bid to protect and secure the West Philippine Sea (WPS)," Quimbo, also senior vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations. 

"Of this amount, P1.05 billion came from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Agriculture—whose requests for CIFs have all been reduced to zero," she said. 

Quimbo said the remaining P187 million came from six government agencies whose confidential funds have been cut down. 

The confidential funds of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace, Reconciliation and Unity have been reverted to fiscal year (FY) 2023 levels, which now amount to P69.5 million and P54 million, respectively. 

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Secretary (P168 million), the Office of the Solicitor General (P10 million) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (P7.5 million) also faced a slash in confidential budget expenses, she said. 

The confidential fund of the Office of the Ombudsman has been reduced to P1 million as per request of the agency, while the remainder of the proposed budget it originally sought has been realigned for its Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses or MOOE, Quimbo further said. 

Under the rationalized CIFs, the new budget allocations for the protection of the WPS are as follows:

•P100 million intelligence fund for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG),

•P100 million for the acquisition of ammunition of the PCG,

•P300 million for the National Intelligence Coordinating Council (NICC),

•P100 million for the National Security Council (NSC); and

•P351 million for the airport development program on Pag-asa Island. 

Quimbo said rest of the realigned funds are for the DepEd’s Government Assistance to Students and Teachers (GATSPE) program, P150 million; DICT’s Cybercrime Prevention, Investigation and Coordination Program, P25 million; DFA operations, P30 million; and Office of the Ombudsman’s MOOE, P50.4 million. 

"The rationalization of confidential funds was based primarily on whether the agency’s mandate could still be performed in the absence of such funds," she said. 

"For those agencies that do require surveillance activities to enforce laws, the committee found it prudent to further reduce budget amounts to 2023 levels or lower depending on their compliance with the reportorial requirements," the lady solon explained.