Speaker Martin Romualdez on Friday said there was no quarrel between the House of Representatives and Vice President Sara Duterte, after lawmakers said they would redistribute confidential funds sought by the offices she leads to agencies that have a direct national security function.
“I think people are reading too much into it. I think it’s very, very straightforward and simple and intelligence funds) topic all came up and there were a lot of discussions and debates in the House and in fact even in the Senate,” Romualdez said.
“Borrowing the words of the vice president that she could live without it and she would leave it to the sound discretion of the Congress for its proper disposition, under the circumstances, we felt that it would best be realigned to the agencies” that deal directly with national security, he said.Congress is reviewing the confidential funds of all civilian agencies in the proposed 2024 national budget, and is not singling out any office, he added.
In a speech this week, Duterte, who is also Education secretary, said anyone who opposed the P650 million in confidential funds requested by her two offices was an “enemy of the people.
”She also said the funds would be used to “ensure peace and security.”
But lawmakers noted that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), which must guard the country’s waters against foreign intrusions, has an intelligence budget of only P10 million – or 65 times less than the confidential funds requested by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
“We are all for peace and security,” Romualdez said. “We are all for that. We are in total agreement that the utilization of confidential and intelligence funds is to promote peace and security.
”But Romualdez said they also wanted to make sure that confidential and intelligence funds are more properly used by agencies and departments “that are best suited, particularly in these aspects of deploying the proper resources and personnel for the promotion of peace and security.”
Duterte, however, drew support from Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who was chief of the national police under her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Dela Rosa accused left-leaning organizations of opposing the vice president’s confidential funds so that communists could continue to recruit students to their cause.
“The leftists know they will be hard hit,” Dela Rosa said, because they are aware that the confidential funds will be used by the Education department to monitor recruitment of students to join the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).Dela Rosa then accused leftist party-list groups as being “fronts” for the CCP-NPA.” Even if you [say] I am re-tagging them, I don’t care,” he said.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, meanwhile, urged Duterte to give up her pursuit of confidential funds and focus instead on her mandate as Education secretary to improve the quality of education.
Castro added that Duterte, by accusing her critics of being “enemies of the state,” seemed to be insinuating that she can no longer be questioned about how she spends her funds.
“This means we can no longer ask questions in the interest of accountability and transparency,” Castro said in Filipino.
“It seems she cannot move without confidential funds.”The lawmaker said this kind of talk dismayed her.
“She really refuses to let go of the confidential funds despite her statements that she can live without it,” Castro said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino.She said that if the vice president is for peace and order, she does not need confidential funds because other leaders have been able to make do without them, including former vice president Leni Robredo.
“She should give up her confidential funds because it’s not the mandate of her office to do surveillance. She needs to focus on our problems in education,” Castro said.
The OVP has been the subject of intense questioning at the House over its P125 million confidential fund in 2022, which was released to the agency in December 2022.The Commission on Audit noted that the OVP spent that amount in just 11 days.
Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co earlier said the confidentialand intelligence funds sought by the OVP and DepEd are among those tobe realigned to other government agencies involved in security andintelligence work.
Castro said lawmakers must monitor the proposed realignment up to thepoint where the budget goes to the bicameral conference committee.
