Will the Office of the President voluntarily relinquish a good portion of its huge confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) for 2024 amounting to P4.5 billion, following the examples of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Solicitor General which forfeited the whole or a great portion of their secret funds?
The appropriation of “extraordinary expenses” must be clarified as it is delimited by Sec. 51 of the General Provisions of R.A. No. 11963 or the General Appropriations Act of 2023.
The defense of Rep. Stella Quimbo of the confidential funds, particularly of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, and the Maharlika Investment Fund, contrary to the collective position of the leadership and ranking members of the Liberal Party of the Philippines, has resulted in some clamor to sanction Rep. Quimbo as a Party member.
On World Teachers’ Day, we should be reminded that schools are temples of knowledge not arenas of surveillance.
“All agencies not entitled to confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) because of the nature of their functions and the extent of their mandate must be deprived of secret funds in their entirety and a mere reduction must not suffice”, according to Albay Re. Edcel C. Lagman.
