
Senate has zero confidential funds
THE Senate denied reports circulating on social media that the upper chamber has a confidential fund of P331 million for 2023.
Senate Secretary Atty. Renato Bantug, in a statement, categorically denied allegations on social media which he said aims to obviously to destroy and malign the image of the Senate as an institution under the leadership of Senate President Miguel Zubiri.
“These social media posts are deliberately misleading and maliciously presented by some personalities who seek to malign and tarnish the reputation of an institution currently taking a long, hard look at the nature of confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) and the government agencies that deserve to have them,” Bantug said.
“The records will show that under the Senate’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) this year, the object of expenditure “Confidential, Intelligence and Extraordinary Expenses” has three line items and these are Confidential Funds, Intelligence Funds and Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses.” Bantug said.
He further clarified that for 2023, “only “Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses” has a line item amounting to P331,942,000.There are no line items for “Confidential Funds” nor “Intelligence Funds.”
“The P331.9 million in the Senate’s “Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses” are used, among others,for meetings, seminars, conferences, public relations, education and other activities of the chamber.” he added.
In the past Senate leadership, Bantug further said that the confidential fund allocations of the Senate amounted to: P100 million like in 2020, P100 million in 2021 and P50 million in 2022.
“But all of these funds were never used and were reverted to the National Treasury in full.” Bantug clarified in his official statement.
“Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz’ F. Zubiri is firm in his belief that the Senate does not need confidential funds.
He has been actively saying that confidential and intelligence funds should be for our military, police and other uniformed personnel who protect our country from both internal and external security threats.” he said.
According to the Senate secretary, the Senate, through the recently constituted Select Oversight Committee on Confidential and Intelligence Funds, will continue to examine the CIFs of government agencies under a rigorous lens of scrutiny and re-align them accordingly to those who really need them.