Palace spent P2.5B for ‘intel’ in 2017; COA notes 350% hike

On its second year, the Office of the President under the Duterte administration spent more than P2.5 billion for “confidential and intelligence expenses” (CIE), which are virtually beyond scrutiny of the Commission on Audit (COA).

The Office of the President’s spending for intelligence, confidential and “other extraordinary expenses” increased by more than 350 percent from the P715.4 million it used in 2016, according to the 2017 COA report.

The CIE forms part of the President’s discretionary funds which he may use for whatever lawful purpose.

The traditional grant of these funds, however, has been widely criticized as a common source of corruption, as the funds are not subjected to the usual audit by the COA because of their “confidential” nature.

In seeking a bigger intelligence funding for the Office of the President, Malacañang officials last year said the funds would be used in the fight against drugs and criminality, fueling speculations that the money was being used to pay hired killers tapped to eliminate drug suspects.

Representation, consultancy

The P2.5-billion CIE is part of the P14.9-billion Malacañang spent for “maintenance and other operating expenses” (MOOE), the bulk of which (55 percent), amounting to P8.2 billion, was labeled as having been spent for “other MOOE.”

These items for “other MOOE” include “donations” amounting to P4.8 billion; “rent/lease expenses” for P1.7 billion; and “representation expenses” totaling P1.6 billion.

Aside from the CIE, about P3.2 billion was spent for “professional services,” mainly for “consultancy services” amounting to about P3.1 billion and P170.6 million for “other professional services.”

The P2.5-billion CIE was given to various officials as cash advances, comprising 85 percent of the total funding.

Hosting Asean

In the audit report, the COA flagged the unliquidated cash advances totaling P6.4 million.

About P322 million were also given as cash advances for local travels (making up 11 percent), P123.4 million for “special purpose,” while about P7.2 million (0.2 percent) was advanced for foreign travels.

The COA said travel and representation expenses, consultancy and other professional services were mainly due to the country’s hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit last year.

The office was charged with the disbursement of about P757.4 million for the hosting of the regional meet. The COA, however, did not get to audit the funds because the office was still in the process of documenting.

Malacañang expenses for local travel increased from P25.4 million to P68.5 million, according to the audit records.

The office also spent P4.9 billion as financial assistance under the President’s Socio-Civic Project Fund.

A total of P816.3 million was spent for the salaries of officials and employees, which include P184.8 million for casuals and contractual workers.

Critics have slammed the government for being the biggest employer of contractual workers, in supposed contradiction to the campaign promise of President Duterte to provide better security of tenure for workers by putting an end to contractualization.