MANILA, Philippines – The excessive size of the confidential fund raised by the Department of Education, which is larger than the budget of the state intelligence agency, was questioned in the senate.
Senator Risa Hontiveros asserted that the proposed ₱150-million confidential fund for DepEd is greater than the ₱141.2 million funds allocated for confidential and intelligence funds by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).
“Budget prioritization is wrong. Let’s leave intelligence and security to the pros,” Hontiveros insisted in a statement.
In total, NICA has a proposed ₱1.058-billion budget under the 2023 National Expenditure Program. The Senate committee on finance approved the amount during an executive session on Tuesday, along with an earmarked ₱343.3-million fund for the National Security Council.
In the two-hour closed-door session, panel chairman Sonny Angara said the two agencies discussed how they spent their 2022 budget.
He said both appealed for additional funding of “hundreds of millions each.”
Meanwhile, Angara said that he does not see any problem with the intelligence fund requested by DepEd.
“If they need the intel funds, then as long as they are not wasted, they have a general purpose, to me it’s okay,” said Angara. “As long as they can justify it.”
Vice President Sara Duterte, who also serves as Education secretary, earlier said that the confidential fund will be used to help fight crimes that target students and teachers.
He also said that he left the matter to the discretion of Congress. RNA
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