No reason to be kept secret: Zarate pushes for congressional audit of intel, confidential funds

By Billy Begas

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate has underscored the need for Congress to have an oversight power over intelligence and confidential funds.

“With around P8.6 billion in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) which is among the highest in Philippine budget history, and the Commission on Audit (COA) admission of difficulty auditing the use of such funds, it becomes imperative now that Congress should exercise oversight powers over such gargantuan public funds,” Zarate said.

Zarate and other representatives of Bayan Muna have filed a measure (House Bill 6261) mandating the oversight and audit of government intelligence and confidential funds. The measure was filed in February 2020.

“CIF has become so large and its use remains hidden that abuse and misuse of the funds are ever present, more so under a tyrannical regime, and also now that elections are coming. Congress needs to assert its power over the purse and see if the funds it allocated were indeed used for its published purpose,” Zarate added.

Earlier, COA chairperson Michael Aguinaldo said it is hard to audit CIF especially since the fund is being spent on informants whose identity cannot be disclosed to the agency.

“Its really a challenge to audit kasi nga they cannot disclose everything to you,” Aguinaldo said during the budget deliberation of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Zarate said “it is high time that the government rectify this highly anomalous mode of allocating intelligence and confidential funds that are free from audit, public scrutiny and official accountability.”

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)