By Joseph Anthony A. Damgo
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) yesterday bared that the government budget for confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) as proposed in the 2025 National Expenditure Program has been reduced by 16 percent compared to this year.
This even as the Office of the Vice President submitted an increased budget for next year despite having discarded its CIF.
“Yes. So, our total Confidential and Intel Funds for next year, for 2025, bumaba po siya ng 16 percent,” DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday.
“It is from 12.378 billion pesos in 2024 sa GAA (General Appropriations Act) and then now, iyong proposal po namin, it’s only ten billion, two hundred eighty-six million point ninety-one – iyon po,” Pangandaman said.
According to the Budget Secretary, a number of government agencies received large confidential or intelligence funds.
Getting the biggest amount is the Office of the President (OP) at P4.5 billion.
This was followed by the Department of National Defense, which took P1.8 billion. The fund is to be divided between the Office of the National Defense Secretary (P147 million) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (P1.7 billion).
Next is the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), which received P906.6 million. The fund is divided among the Office of the DILG Secretary and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
After DILG is the Department of Justice (DOJ), which got P579.4 million. The fund is to be divided among the Office of the DOJ Secretary, Bureau of Immigration (BI), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
The Budget Secretary also said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) received P18 million, while the Department of Transportation (DOTr) got P405 million.
Pangandaman said other executive offices also received a total of PhP1.8 billion. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) got P7.5 million; Games and Amusement Board (GAB), P4 million; National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), P991.2 million; National Security Council (NSC), P250 million; Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU), P60 million; and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at P500 million.
Other agencies that received smaller confidential funds include the Commission on Audit (COA), Office of the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Pangandaman added.
In the same briefing, DBM reported on Thursday that the budget of the OVP for 2025 has increased by eight percent.
Pangandaman said the proposed budget for the OVP for next year is P2.037 billion is broken down as Ph188.5 million for Personnel Services, P1.79 billion for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses, and P56 million for Capital Outlay.
Pangandaman mentioned that the OVP did not request a CIF for 2025.
“Sa CIF po, wala pong CIF ang Office of the Vice President. I think, hindi rin po siya nag-request ng CIF,” she said.
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