Lawyers can question legality of intelligence funds in SC, says Pimentel

MANILA, Philippines — Activist lawyers can challenge before the Supreme Court the legality of granting intelligence funds to civilian agencies, like Office of the President (OP).

The suggestion was made by Senate Minority Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III to his fellow lawyers on Thursday.

The opposition senator raised this issue on the second day of plenary deliberations in Senate on the proposed 2024 national budget bill.

“Siguro, in due time, kung meron tayong mga activist lawyers listening to us, maybe a case can be filed with the Supreme Court to test the legality of the grant of intelligence fund to the OP, being a civilian agency,” said Pimentel.

(In due time, if we have activist lawyers listening to us, a case can be filed with the Supreme Court to test the legality of the grant of intelligence funds to the OP, which is a civilian agency.)

Pimentel cited Joint Circular 2015-01 as a part of the discussion.

Joint Circluar 2015-01 is a document detailing the guidelines on the provision, use, and audit of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).

Five government agencies authored the joint circular, including Commission on Audit and Department of Budget and Management.

It was released on January 8, 2015.

Pimentel said the circular defined intelligence expenses as those related to “intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel and intelligence practitioners that have direct impact to national security.”

“I don’t think OP is composed of intelligence practitioners,” the lawmaker observed.

“The President himself, as well as his office, are consumers of intelligence already gathered and organized by intelligence practitioners under the OP in the executive branch,” he pointed out.

The senator appealed to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to “be consistent with the issuances we have signed on.”

“You are a civilian office. Huwag na nating i-confuse ang nature natin na meron tayong intelligence fund,” he told the Chief Executive.

(You are a civilian office. Let’s not confuse our nature with the fact that we have an intelligence fund.)

He likewise appealed to Marcos to review the amounts of confidential or intelligence allocation of OP.

“The levels ay napakataas. Our President is an Ilocano, so I appeal to his Ilocano nature to review the amounts,” he said.

(The levels are very high. Our President is an Ilocano, so I appeal to his Ilocano nature to review the amounts.)

“The amounts contribute to the bottom line of the budget, contribute to the deficit, which contributes to the debt,” he added.

Pimentel’s interpellation lasted for around 40 minutes.

After this, the P10.7 billion budget of OP for 2024 hurdled the Senate plenary.

Tucked into this proposal is a whopping P2.3 billion in confidential funds, which the chamber also approved and retained.