Bongbong Marcos’ office proposes P4.5-B confidential, intel funds for 2023

The facade of the Malacañan Palace. FILE PHOTO / CONTRIBUTED

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is proposing P4.5 billion for its confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) for 2023, similar to the last proposed budget of his predecessor President Rodrigo Duterte.

The OP’s proposed P2.25 billion in confidential funds and P2.25 billion in intelligence financing in the National Expenditure Program for 2023 totals P4.5 billion and is quite similar to Duterte’s suggested CIF in 2022. Based on past data, OP’s CIF has been set at P4.5 billion beginning in 2020.

According  to the Commission on Audit (COA), confidential funds are used for “surveillance activities in civilian government agencies that are intended to support the mandate or operations of the agency.”

Meanwhile, intelligence funds are used for “intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel, and intelligence practitioners that have a direct impact on national security.”

In the 2016 national budget, the last budget crafted by the Aquino administration, CIF was only at P500 million—P250 million for confidential funds and P250 million for intelligence funds.

This increased to P2.5 billion—P1.25 billion each for confidential funds and intelligence funds—in 2017. However, CIF stayed at P2.5 billion until 2019 before rising to P4.5 billion in 2020.

READ: Duterte’s office grilled over proposed P4.5B confidential, intelligence funds for 2022

JPV/abc