Tinio questions OP’s secret funds, seeks fair transparency rules

MANILA, Philippines – ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio on Tuesday questioned why nearly half of the Office of the President’s (OP) proposed budget next year falls under secret funds, a query left unanswered after lawmakers opted to forego questioning.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 37-5 to swiftly end debate on the OP’s P10.1 billion proposed budget, cutting short discussions after the panel deferred questioning over its spending plan due to parliamentary courtesy.

But Tinio pressed his point, urging transparency be applied across all agencies.

“Why is it that almost half of the budget of the Office of the President is confidential and intelligence funds?” he told lawmakers in Filipino, as around P4.56 billion was earmarked for spending beyond traditional scrutiny.

Confidential and intelligence funds are to be spent on surveillance and intelligence information gathering activities, according to a 2015 joint circular between the Commission on Audit (COA) and several agencies.

READ: House panel ends OP budget briefing in less than an hour

Tinio said the OP should explain its allotments meant for secret expenses, amid claims that Vice President Sara Duterte misused secret funds that had formed a key plank of impeachment efforts against her.

“If P612.5 million in confidential funds is under scrutiny… why is the Office of the President not explaining why its confidential and intelligence funds are that big?”, he said.

“We need a fair application of the principle of transparency,” he added.

Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has the right to hold secret funds as the nation’s chief executive.

He also noted that COA had rendered an unmodified opinion on OP’s finances, which he described as “the highest opinion ever for all government agencies.”

“The president is the chief executive officer. The president is the head of state, so his first job is to ensure law and order and that is where confidential funds are being used,” he told reporters in mixed English and Filipino.

“To the intelligence fund, he is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and that is important for national security,” he added. /gsg