The Office of the Ombudsman has toughly accepted the challenge to take the lead and reject its multi-million worth of confidential funds for 2024.

In a sit-down interview with Daily Tribune, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said that their initial P51.468 million in confidential funds for 2024 is now officially reduced to merely P1 million.

"I made an official request with the Senate and the House of Representatives to reduce the [over] P51 million to P1 million," Martires said.

According to Martires, he sent a letter last Friday to Rep. Elizaldy Co and Senator Sonny Angara, who both chair the appropriations panel in the House and Senate, respectively, for the official reduction of their secret funds.

"I wanted P1,000, but they didn't agree," he said.

While the Ombudsman did not fully accept the challenge to let go of their confidential funds for the upcoming year, he said that the reduction of over P50 million was a direct response to Senator Koko Pimentel's call to his office to take the lead of deletion of such controversial funds so that other agencies will follow.

To recall, Pimentel challenged Martires to relinquish P51.468 in confidential funds under its P5.050 billion budget for 2024 following the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Migrant Workers' rejection of the grant of millions of secret funds.

Martires claimed that his office can do without confidential funds in the investigation and prosecution of cases if it will only taint the reputation of the Ombudsman and its officers.

The Ombudsman initially proposed a P6.7 billion budget for 2024, but the Department of Budget and Management recommended a P1.67 billion cut and only allocated P5.05 billion under the 2024 National Expenditure Program.

Its P5.05 billion 2024 allocation, includes the P51.468 in confidential funds.

But Martires has nothing against the DBM's decision as he believes that the significant decrease in their budget will surely go to the projects intended to help the poor.

'Confidential trend'

Martires was one with other lawmakers in questioning the ballooning confidential funds allocated to government agencies, including civilian departments, which have not traditionally sought such funds in previous years but are now surprisingly doing so for the upcoming fiscal year.

Citing Pimentel, Martires disclosed that the grant of confidential and intelligence funds for civilian agencies unrelated to national security or surveillance has become a trend, which fallout to the sudden hike of such funds under the government's national budget.

"Although he said that the Department of Foreign Affairs rejected, they should because they did not have investigative functions. The Department of Migrant Workers refused, true, because they do not have investigative functions," he said.

The graft buster also raised an eyebrow at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, which received around P100 million in confidential funds this year and has spent P25 million of that amount.

"Where are they going to use that, right?"

During the budget hearing, the PCSO defended before the House Committee on Appropriations that it utilizes confidential funds to acquire information on illegal gambling.

However, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, the panel's senior vice chairperson, shut this disposition, arguing that the existence of illegal gambling activities still persists in the face of the PCSO's allocation of confidential funds.