Senate OKs ban of contingent fund for secret use in certain gov’t agencies

The Senate building at the GSIS Complex in Pasay City. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has adopted the proposal of Senator Risa Hontiveros to ban the use of the contingent fund (CF) for augmentation of the secret budgets of certain government agencies.

Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, confirmed this on Wednesday when reporters asked if the the proposal was among those approved by the upper chamber.

On Tuesday, 21 senators voted to approve the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024. Only one — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino  “Koko” Pimentel III — abstained from voting.

The prohibition is contained in the special provision of the CF as proposed by Hontiveros when the Senate began its floor discussion on the budget early this month.

“With respect to the augmentation of the CIF (confidential and intelligence funds)  from the Contingent Fund as was done last year for the Office of the Vice President, we wish to propose an amendment to the current special provision of the Contingent Fund,” she said then.

“Again as a matter of fiscal prudence, we’d like to include the augmentation of the CIF as a prohibition under the Contingent Fund,  along with the  prohibition  to tap the said fund for the purchase say of  motor vehicles,”  she added.

Her proposed amendment followed  her  strong objection  to the transfer of P221 million budget last year from the  Office of the President (OP) to  the office of  Vice President Sara Duterte.

Duterte herself confirmed that  her office requested P125 million confidential fund  from the  OP.

Hontiveros branded this transfer “unauthorized” and “illegal.”

The Senate, on the other hand, did not touch the P4.5 billion CIF  of the OP tucked in  its proposed P10.707 billion next year.

“It’s the same,” Angara said in another message.

This no longer surprised Pimentel, who proposed to remove the intel fund of the OP and cut its confidential allocation.

“Of course, no one dared to touch the CIF of the President,”  the  minority leader said  in another  message to reporters.