Angara vows to defend CIF amendment

Senator Sonny Angara on Friday said he will fight for the retainment of the amendments on confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the Vice President during the bicameral deliberations of the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for next year.

Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, is referring to the transfer of the confidential funds amounting to at least P152 million back to the Department of Education which Vice President Sara Duterte also heads.

“Vice-chair (Risa) Hontiveros already said that she hopes that maybe the amendment of the Senate realigning the hundreds of millions of pesos allocated for the intelligence fund of various agencies to other agencies will be retained,” Angara told reporters in a chance interview at the Manila Polo Club where the bicameral committee held its first deliberation on Friday.

Opposition is expected in the realignment of the controversial intelligence fund for the OVP.

“We did not remove the funds but placed it under their MOOE or maintenance and other operating expenses,” he said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who introduced the said amendment, was present during the bicameral panel’s first deliberation and expressed confidence that it will be sustained.

“I have full trust and confidence to Senate Finance Committee Chair Sonny and moving forward we will still have voting in the bicam,” Hontiveros said.

Earlier, Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel requested the scrapping of at least P9.3 billion worth of CIFs under the 2023 General Appropriations Bill.

Pimentel and Hontiveros questioned the allocation of “enormous” funds to non-security-related government agencies, particularly the OVP, DepEd and Office of the Solicitor General which originally received P500 million, P150 million and P19.2 million, respectively.