Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc called for the abolishment of the Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) from the Philippine National budget over concerns of repeated abuse.
The House minority bloc stated that the very nature of the CIF allowed for public servants to operate with little to no transparency on how public funds are utilized.
“The CIF system is structurally prone to abuse because it is designed to operate behind secrecy, weak documentation, and limited public scrutiny,” they said in a statement.
“The current scandal shows how easily it becomes a shadow budget insulated from transparency and accountability,” they added.
Makabayan cited the recent issuance of a Notice of Disallowance of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the P375 million confidential funds of Vice President Sara Duterte as proof of how the allocated funds betrayed public trust.
The solons expressed that every peso disallowed by the auditing agency must be immediately returned as every amount was needed to provide relief amid the ongoing oil crisis.
It also noted that reforms must be undertaken to ensure that no further abuse of the country’s funds would take place.
“We call on the House and the public to press forward with the strongest accountability measures, ensure that recovery of disallowed amounts is enforced, and enact reforms that finally end the abuse of confidential funds once and for all,” they