Accounting ‘confidential, intelligence’ public funds
>> Saturday, December 17, 2022
EDITORIAL
After cutting
confidential and intelligence funds approved by the House of Representatives in
the 2023 national budget, senators went along with the version of the larger
chamber.
The bicameral conference committee last week approved the P5.268-trillion budget for 2023, keeping the CIF amounting to P9.3 billion, including the full P150 million for the Dept. of Education and another P500 million for the Office of the Vice President.
Senators said they went along with the House to avoid a deadlock that could delay approval of the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
Political observers say if this is going to be the trend in congressional deliberations on the annual GAA, the process can be greatly shortened by simply allowing the House to do all the work on the Malacañang-proposed budget, with Senate approval mainly ministerial.
Amid dismay expressed by certain quarters, senators have made another promise: the CIF will be subjected to close scrutiny, by state auditors and an oversight committee being constituted by the Senate president.
This has been done since the 10th Congress. The current GAA also contains a provision requiring quarterly reporting on CIF utilization, to be submitted to the two chambers of Congress as well as the Office of the President.
Rodrigo Duterte, during his presidency, had rejected such quarterly reporting on his CIF – the largest ever for the OP since 1986.
It remains to be seen whether President Marcos will agree to the quarterly reporting. But a new administration always offers high hopes for reforms to promote transparency, accountability and good governance.
CIFs can be scrutinized by the Commission on Audit. What the COA cannot do, they say, is disclose to the public the details of CIF utilization, particularly if it involves national security and public safety.
There are also limits to the details that security and law enforcement agencies can disclose even to lawmakers in closed session. Also, expenditures for intelligence gathering are typically not covered by receipts or other documents that can be used to verify proper utilization of the CIF.
Observers say this inherent lack of transparency is the reason why CIF allocation has been limited in the past, and why this growing propensity to allot CIFs even to agencies with no involvement in security or law enforcement functions, such as the DepEd, is raising concern.
Congress, however, has passed the 2023 national budget. Taxpayers have no other recourse but to hold senators to their word, that they will provide oversight in the use of funds cloaked in secrecy.
The bicameral conference committee last week approved the P5.268-trillion budget for 2023, keeping the CIF amounting to P9.3 billion, including the full P150 million for the Dept. of Education and another P500 million for the Office of the Vice President.
Senators said they went along with the House to avoid a deadlock that could delay approval of the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
Political observers say if this is going to be the trend in congressional deliberations on the annual GAA, the process can be greatly shortened by simply allowing the House to do all the work on the Malacañang-proposed budget, with Senate approval mainly ministerial.
Amid dismay expressed by certain quarters, senators have made another promise: the CIF will be subjected to close scrutiny, by state auditors and an oversight committee being constituted by the Senate president.
This has been done since the 10th Congress. The current GAA also contains a provision requiring quarterly reporting on CIF utilization, to be submitted to the two chambers of Congress as well as the Office of the President.
Rodrigo Duterte, during his presidency, had rejected such quarterly reporting on his CIF – the largest ever for the OP since 1986.
It remains to be seen whether President Marcos will agree to the quarterly reporting. But a new administration always offers high hopes for reforms to promote transparency, accountability and good governance.
CIFs can be scrutinized by the Commission on Audit. What the COA cannot do, they say, is disclose to the public the details of CIF utilization, particularly if it involves national security and public safety.
There are also limits to the details that security and law enforcement agencies can disclose even to lawmakers in closed session. Also, expenditures for intelligence gathering are typically not covered by receipts or other documents that can be used to verify proper utilization of the CIF.
Observers say this inherent lack of transparency is the reason why CIF allocation has been limited in the past, and why this growing propensity to allot CIFs even to agencies with no involvement in security or law enforcement functions, such as the DepEd, is raising concern.
Congress, however, has passed the 2023 national budget. Taxpayers have no other recourse but to hold senators to their word, that they will provide oversight in the use of funds cloaked in secrecy.
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