COA eyes revisiting rules on confidential and intel funds
MANILA, Philippines — Recent increases in confidential and intelligence funds allocated to various government agencies have led the Commission on Audit to seek a review of the rules governing its use, officials told a House panel on Thursday.
Amid criticisms that too many civilian agencies have been given funds for intelligence-gathering, an official from COA said they will be revising the 2015 joint circular that sets the guidelines for it.
“We will try to convene an interagency committee with the same agencies that promulgated the rules to update (the joint circular). 2015 is a long time, that’s eight years ago,” COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba said.
Signatories of the joint circular besides COA are the Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations and the Department of National Defense.
Cordoba’s statement was in response to an inquiry by Rep. Raoul Manuel, who said COA must also reexamine the guidelines for CIFs when necessary.
“Because COA is part of the agencies listed (in the joint circular) and COA has a priority thrust… You will revisit all existing rules and regulations,” Manuel said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“Now that we have quantitative and qualitative change in how CIFs are used, is COA open to amending joint circular 2015-01?” Manuel asked.
Government rules on CIFs give agencies the right to refuse to publicly disclose how the lump sum is spent — a running point of criticism flung at agencies like the Department of Education, which has P150 million in CIFs in its proposed 2024 budget.
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Cordoba said the COA will convene the interagency committee within the third quarter of 2023 and will aim to finalize any changes before the year ends.
“We will update the appropriations committee and Congress as whole on the changes,” he added.
Minority lawmakers have hurled criticisms against the “widespread” allocation of CIFs in the proposed budget for 2024, which is set at around P10.14 billion in total. Among others, they have called the lump sum a form of “pork barrel.”
The bulk of the CIFs in the proposed 2024 budget will go to the Office of the President (P1.7 billion) – the same trend observed during the Duterte administration, which saw a sharp increase in CIF allocations across agencies.
Meanwhile, Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte stands to get P650 million through both the OVP and the education department at P500 million and P150 million, respectively.
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