‘Removing intel fund would render BBM useless’

The proposed P4.5 billion intelligence fund for the Office of the President would allow the Chief Executive to execute his duties and responsibilities, Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa said Sunday.

The same holds true for the intelligence funds of other government agencies, the senator added in defending the allocation for the President.

“We must trust the government and the head of agencies because they were appointed as the extensions of the President. We should discard doubts,” De la Rosa stressed, speaking in Filipino.

The P4.5 billion intelligence fund is more than half the OP’s P8.9 billion budget for 2023 approved by the Senate on Thursday.

Removing or reducing the President’s confidential fund would affect his administration’s performance, De la Rosa maintained.

He added that the fund’s proper utilization is safeguarded by its being submitted to the Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management for liquidation.

“Where can you see an Office of the President that has no intelligence and confidential funds? Removing them will render the President useless,” De la Rosa said.

Intelligence funds are only made confidential so as not to make public some sensitive strategies of the government, De la Rosa, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, said.

Nonetheless, the senator said they shall closely look at the intelligence fund proposals of other agencies of the government, following the approval of the confidential fund of the Department of Justice and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, the Department of Energy, and their attached agencies.