‘Think about it: If there are billions in pesos that do not have to be accounted for, where could they be ending up, year in and year out?’
I WAS somewhat amused when I read that the House of Representatives was going to reallocate (is this the right term?) the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and use them for West Philippine Sea purposes.
How P600 million (is this the right amount?) will improve the security of our sovereign territory is still to be seen, but heck, P600 million is P600 million. Money that big doesn’t grow on trees or can’t be picked up on the sidewalk.
And anyone who tries to swallow P600 million will require a whole lot of Absolute drinking water to wash them bills down the gullet.
Depending on who you talk to, the reallocation of the OVP’s confidential funds is more about politics than anything else. This early, there are talks that 2028 will see a clash between the presidential aspirations of VP Sara and Speaker Martin, and this sparring over the confidential funds is but a first skirmish between the two forces. It will therefore be interesting to watch our political stage as the Barangay elections near and 2024 comes around because by 2024 you’ll begin to see positioning for the mid-term polls in 2025, which in turn may reveal a lot about the 2028 alliances.
This whole brouhaha about the confi funds, however, still leaves me uneasy at best and resigned at worst. And I feel this way because it seems to me that the real issue about confidential funds (or intelligence funds) is missed.
Remember that at the heart of this brouhaha was the question of where they’re used.
That’s a serious question, but it is made even more serious because confidential or intelligence funds are not subject to the same stringent accountability rules as all other public funds. This means the funds can be spent (or not spent) and the public need not know what happens to the money.
And that’s the crux of the matter here.
We are, I still assume, a democracy. In a democracy, public officials are mere representatives of the people, elected to fixed terms to carry out the wishes of the electorate for the benefit of the interests of the electorate.
To be able to do their job, public officials have access to public funds which are mainly taxpayers’ money. These funds have to be accounted for.
But such is not the case with the billions in confidential or intelligence funds that are part and parcel of our annual budget. Billions which can be spent (or not spent) but which need not be accounted for.
Think about it: if there are billions in pesos that do not have to be accounted for, where could they be ending up, year in and year out?
Sorry, you can’t find out. They’re confidential, remember?
