The Senate Committee on Finance should consider banning the use of contingency funds to increase the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of civilian agencies under the proposed national budget for 2024.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros suggested this to Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Wednesday, November 8, during the first day of the plenary debates on the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for next year.

Hontiveros mentioned as an example Vice President Sara Duterte’s admission before the Senate finance committee’s previous budget hearings that her office requested confidential funds in August 2022, and which Malacañang approved of and charged it to its contingent fund.

Malacañang then transferred to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) a total of P221.4-million.

“With respect to the augmentation of the CIF from the Contingent Fund, as was done last year for the Office of the Vice-President, we wish to propose an amendment to the current special provision of the Contingent Fund,” Hontiveros pointed out.

“Again, as a matter of fiscal prudence, we would like to include the augmentation of the CIF as a prohibition under the Contingent Fund along with the prohibition to tap the said fund for the purchase of, say, motor vehicles," she said.

She pointed out that under the current version of the budget bill, the special provision only prohibits the use of the P13-billion contingent fund for the procurement of motor vehicles.

Angara, for his part, agreed there is “merit” to Hontiveros’ proposal, but warned that the proposed amendment might affect security agencies’ request for CIF augmentation in the future, especially during emergencies.

“I think there is some merit in that. But I am just being told that if it is too broad, or overbroad it may hamper some of the security agencies, your Honor,” Angara said.

“So perhaps there may be an exception to the exception, or an exception to your proposal, just in case there are emergencies. I think there have been occasions in the past where they found the need to supplement the security agencies, not just the civilian agencies,” he said.

Hontiveros agreed to Angara’s argument but said that her proposal would only be limited to government agencies that have no security mandates.

“This representation would have no quarrel with that…But definitely, what I am thinking of proposing an amendment at the proper time, will not pertain to security agencies that have clear national defense and public safety mandates and expertise, but only to civilian agencies that have no security mandate,” she said.