Revival of oversight committee on intel funds sought
The House of Representatives started the first regular session of the 19th Congress on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. (Photo from a livestream posted on the Facebook account of the House of Representatives)
MANILA, Philippines — Makabayan lawmakers have filed a bill mandating Congress to exercise its oversight functions and require the audit of government intelligence and confidential funds, which have reached over P10 billion in the 2023 national budget.
House Bill No. 7158 sought to “rectify this unconstitutional mode of allocating intelligence and confidential funds that are free from audit, public scrutiny, and official accountability.”
The three-member bloc noted that congressional oversight on such funds from the 10th to 16th Congresses was done through a Senate select oversight committee on intelligence and confidential funds.
This was not reinstated beginning with the 17th Congress and did not have a counterpart in the House of Representatives.
The “Intelligence and Confidential Funds Transparency Act of 2023” was filed on Feb. 14.
In the 2023 General Appropriations Act, P5.22 billion was allocated for intelligence expenses while P4.85 billion was set aside for confidential funds.
“The Commission on Audit (COA) has repeatedly noted the main issue in confidential and intelligence funds — they escape genuine audit and public scrutiny, while the ones handling them escape accountability,” part of the bill’s explanatory note read.
Although the COA, Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Defense, and the Governance Commission for GOCCs signed a joint circular on guidelines for confidential and intelligence funds, “the safeguards in this circular leave much to be desired from the point of view of the people trying to peek into the darkness of black budgets.”
HB 7158 proposed the creation of a joint congressional oversight committee on intelligence and confidential funds, composed of five members each from the Senate and the House.
The joint panel will be co-chaired by the Senate committee on accountability of public officers and investigation and the House panel on good government and public accountability.
Its members will include the chairpersons of the Senate finance panel and the House appropriations committee, and two members from the minority blocs of each chamber.
The joint committee will conduct a semi-annual review of the status and implementation of programs and activities financed by intelligence and confidential funds, and report to Congress no later than June 30 of each year.
In addition, the bill sought to mandate the COA to conduct a yearly special audit on all intelligence and confidential funds and to submit a report no later than June 30 of each year.
