Proposed confidential and intel funds for 2024 increased by P120 million

Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman. Photo from DBM

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) under the planned 2024 national budget increased by P120 million as three agencies asked for additional shares of the secret fund.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman revealed this on Thursday, naming three agencies as the Department Of Information And Communications Technology (DICT), the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), and the Presidential Security Group (PSG) requested an increase in their CIF.

“Mayroon pong increase na P120 million for the CIF. ‘Yung increase is because meron pong dagdag na confidential funds for the following agencies: DICT, and then there’s also an amount for Anti-Money Laundering Council, and may increase din po sa confidential funds ng PSG,” she said during a press briefing in Malacañang.

(The CIF increased by P120 million. The rise is due to additional confidential funds for the following agencies: DICT, and then there’s also an amount for the Anti-Money Laundering Council, and there is also an increase in the confidential funds of PSG.)

The Office of the President alone is already asking for P4.56 billion CIF in the 2024 National Expenditure Plan (NEP), which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) formally submitted to the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

READ: Office of the President again seeks bulk of intel, confidential funds

Pangandaman, however, noted that the CIF has been on a downward trend since 2018. The DBM chief said that the CIFs are small percentages of the total budget per year, which she listed as follows:

• 2018:  0.215 percent
• 2019: 0.192 percent
• 2020: 0.235 percent
• 2021: 0.212 percent
• 2022: 0.183 percent
• 2023: 0.190 percent
• 2024:  0.176 percent

“It’s the lowest sa time series natin. Ibig sabihin po ‘yung share po niya sa kabuuang budget natin, while you look at it, it’s P10 billion, it’s actually decreasing naman po,” said the Budget Secretary.

(It’s the lowest in our time series. That means that its share in the entire budget, while you look at it, is P10 billion, it’s actually decreasing.)

Pangandaman further pointed out that the CIFs of other agencies decreased under the 2024 NEP.

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