The grant of confidential and intelligence funds under the government's national budget has become a trend that several government agencies have abused, a vice chairperson of the House committee on appropriations said Monday.

In an interview on Monday, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, one of the vice chairs of the panel, noted that there has been a noticeable increase in the allocation of confidential and intelligence funds in recent years granted to various agencies unrelated to national security or surveillance.

"Ang daming nakiuso at naabuso na rin," Garin said.

"If you look at the historical data, the jump started in 2017, when the total confidential fund in 2016 was P720 million. In 2017, it jumped to P2.07 billion and you will see by 2020, it more than doubled to P4.57 billion," she said.

Marathon deliberations in the proposed P5.768 trillion budget for 2024 have led to intense debates in the House, particularly on the grant of multi-million confidential funds to numerous civilian agencies, including the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education , that have nothing to do with surveillance.

Last week, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, the senior vice chair of the House appropriations panel, said that about 10 government agencies, including the OVP and DepEd both headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, are expected to be affected by the House's plan to realign confidential funds to national security agencies amid China's persistent assertiveness inside Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.

Duterte sought P2.395 billion and P758.6 billion for the OVP and DepEd in the proposed 2024 budget, including P500 million and P150 million in confidential funds, respectively.

The House leadership, however, revoked Duterte's P650 million confidential funds following a consensus by the chamber's party leaders to augment funds for security and intel agencies to better safeguard Philippine territorial waters and guarantee Filipino fishermen rights and access to their traditional fishing grounds.

Duterte's P650 million confidential funds will be realigned to agencies involved in security and intelligence, such as the Philippine Coast Guard, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Security Council, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, according to the House.

Garin, however, contends it is crucial to keep a watch on more than just the OVP and DepEd in terms of allocation of confidential funds since many government agencies, which have not traditionally sought such funds in previous years, are now surprisingly doing so for the upcoming fiscal year.

"There are also other agencies that have not been noticed, like DICT," she said. "Let's not just focus on the Office of the Vice President."

The DICT, which economic managers flagged for having the lowest budget utilization rates, sought P300 million in confidential funds under the 2024 proposed national budget to purge cybercrime.

DICT chief Ivan Uy previously justified the need for intelligence funds to conduct intel and investigation to go after cybercriminals, claiming "many of these methodologies require confidential funds."

Garin noted that DICT was among the agencies that jumped on the trend, requesting P300 million confidential funds "when, in fact, for 2021, 2022 and 2023, this was zero."

"The confidential fund further increased. But now we see that it did not go to the proper agencies that should be raised if we are talking about national security," she said.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers chairman Vladimer Quetua on Sunday petitioned the government to stop the confidential fund "spree" and that intelligence funds and confidential funds allocated for agencies that have nothing to do with ensuring national security should be channeled into basic services budgets.

House committee on appropriations chairperson Elizaldy Co confirmed last Wednesday that the lower chamber agreed to eliminate the confidential and intelligence of several agencies and that the OVP and DepEd were the first to be identified to received the budget cuts.