Around ₱650 million of the combined intelligence and confidential funds (CIF) from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) will be transferred to the budget of intelligence and security agencies, according to Chairman ng House Committee on Appropriations Elizaldy Co on Wednesday.
During a comittee hearing on the proposed 2024 national budget, Co confirmed that the CIF would be reallocated to the National Security Agency, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Philippine Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
The committee earlier decided to reallocate the CIF of agencies that have nothing to do with matters of national safety and security.
The movement was made after the China Coast Guard installed a floating barrier southeast of Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc off the coast of Zambales on September 22.
In a statement from the office of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, such "special lump sum funds" will be used to augment the funds of various security agencies tasked with responding to the rising tension in the West Philippine Sea.
Budget deliberations at the House and Senate have led to intense discussions about CIF after lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc called out the OVP over its CF allocation in 2022.
Citing a Commission on Audit (COA) repor, House Committee on Appropriations senior vice chairperson and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo revealed that the OVP spent PHP 125 million CF within 11 days in 2022.
However, House Appropriations Panel Vice Chair Maria Carmen Zamora said the OVP regarded the report as "inaccurate".
