Pimentel to seek realignment of P650-million confidential funds of DepEd, OVP

The minority bloc will attempt to realign the confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said Friday.

In an interview with reporters, Pimentel joined his fellow minority senator Risa Hontiveros in calling for the realignment of P150-million confidential funds lodged under DepEd as he questioned the necessity of such funding for a civilian agency tasked to promote education, not security concerns.

“Hindi lang namin kukwenstyunin. Mag-attempt kaming i-amend. Siguro ilipat natin sa program or activity na directly related to education,” Pimentel said, noting that it is the first time that DepEd has requested for confidential funds.

He said the DepEd, headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, may keep the P150 million but " it should be used to support basic education programs.”

“If you want to retain the funds within the agency, then it should be transferred to programs directly related to basic education,” he said.

Pimentel said the minority bloc will determine whether to realign the said funds within the agency or transfer it to other agencies that need additional funding.

Apart from the confidential funds in the DepEd, Pimentel also eyes stripping off the P500-million confidential fund in the OVP's proposed budget for 2023, citing the need to free up some fiscal space for the government's social and health programs.

Among these programs that need more funding is the Office of the Ombudsman's anti-corruption campaign, Pimentel said.

“Generally speaking, we discourage the allocation for CIFs, primarily because these are lump-sum funds and, secondly, the auditing is very minimal,” Pimentel said, explaining that it is "prone to abuse and discretion."

He likewise pointed out that the request for confidential funds are inconsistent with the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework of the Marcos Administration.

“Sa Medium-Term Fiscal Framework ng Marcos administration, sinabi nila ang goal nila ay ‘growth inducing expenditures.’ Is that a growth inducing expenditure? Let’s be consistent with our public posturing,” Pimentel said.

On Thursday, Duterte reiterated that she will leave to the Senate if they will grant the P500-million confidential funds that the OVP has requested for 2023.

She made the same statement during the Senate finance committee hearing on DepEd's proposed budget for 2023 on Thursday when Hontiveros asked the department to realign its proposed P150-million confidential fund to restore the budget for Indigenous Peoples' (IP) education.

Hontiveros said that the proposed budget for IP education programs of P53.4 million, down from P144.3 million this year, caught her attention.

In response, Duterte, who also sits as DepEd secretary, cited Joint Circular 2015-01 which defines confidential expenses as “those expenses pertaining/related to surveillance activities in civilian government agencies that are intended to support the mandate or operations of the agency.”

The DepEd earlier said that surveillance and intelligence gathering are needed to ensure that its projects are target-specific and would result in the broader protection of their personnel and students against sexual abuse and all other forms of violence, graft, and corruption; involvement in illegal drugs of learners and personnel; recruitment to insurgency, terrorism, and violent extremism; child labor; child pornography; and recruitment to criminal activities, gangsterism, and financial and other scams.

“With regards to the budget cuts within the DepEd, we can work out realignments in our budget so that we can fund programs, activities, and budget that need for funding,” Duterte said.

“With regards to confidential funds, this is a proposal that we submitted to Congress and as I said earlier with regards to the confidential fund of the Office of the Vice President we submit to the wisdom of the Congress with regards to the amount and propriety matter on decision on confidential funds,” she said.

“But we would like to put on record that we reassure the Congress and the public that these funds will be used in relation to what is allowed in the joint circular of those agencies mentioned earlier 2015-01,” Duterte added. —LDF, GMA News