The House small committee, formed to receive and resolve amendments to the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, has officially stripped the confidential funds of Vice President Sara Duterte's office and the Department of Education, which she also heads, including five civilian agencies.

Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, a member of the panel, told reporters that the OVP, DepEd, Departments of Information and Communications, of Foreign Affairs and of Agriculture, headed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are getting "zero" confidential funds in 2024.

Co said the removal of the secret funds follows the unanimous decision of the small committee to channel it to agencies in charge of monitoring and protecting the country's national security and territorial rights, especially in the West Philippine Sea, amid China's persistent assertiveness in the disputed waterway.

"We believe that the House of Representatives is on the right side of history. We are responding to the call of the times. And the volatile situation in the West Philippine Sea calls for immediate and decisive action to protect our national sovereignty," Co said.

The House leadership previously said that they would revoke 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.

Following the conclusion of the small committee's amendment in the 2024 budget, Co said a total of P1.23 billion in confidential funds would instead go to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (P300 million), National Security Council (P100 million) and Philippine Coast Guard (P200 million).

The Department of Transportation would likewise receive P381.8 million for the development and expansion of Pag-asa Island Airport, which would be part of the P3 billion total allocation for the said airport.

The small committee, composed of Co, majority leader Mannix Dalipe, minority leader Nonoy Libanan and Markina Rep. Stella Quimbo, pursued to strip Duterte's P650 million confidential funds unfazed by the latter's recent remark that critics of such funds are "enemies of the nation" who are "against peace."

The VP, who sought P2.395 billion and P758.6 billion for OVP and DepEd in the proposed 2024 budget, including P500 million and P150 million in confidential funds, respectively, even assumed that critics of confidential funds allocated for peace and order have "insidious motivations."

Last week, Speaker Martin Romualdez said they are one with Duterte's claim that confidential funds are for peace and security; therefore, it is best to realign to agencies, departments, and areas such as the frontline Paga-asa in Kalayaan, Palawan, in the WPS that need priority.

Moreover, the House chief highlighted that the realignment of Duterte's P650 million in confidential funds to security and intelligence forces was the "right thing" and had nothing to do with their previous dispute.

Meanwhile, the small committee deemed as fake news the allegations making rounds in social media that the House possessed a P1.6 billion confidential fund.

"Congress has no confidential funds. That said P1.6 billion is extraordinary expenses," Quimbo told reporters.

"In short, that's fake news," Co said.

Co and Quimbo are the chair and senior vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations