Social media is abuzz with “Confidential Funds” or “Confi-Intel Funds” in the proposed 2024 Budget. It’s a new word especially included in more than 20 civilian government agencies, particularly the “P500 million confidential fund” budgeted under control of Sara Duterte as Vice-President and as concurrent DepEd Secretary.
The fact is the said amount is much more than the budgeted P438.2 million for both the country’s main government agencies in charge of the country’s Security, DND and NICA. She claims that the “confidential funds may sapat na safeguards.”
Questions have been raised by many people: Really, are there effective safeguards? Why “confidential,” meaning SECRET funds that may not be questioned by any Filipino citizen?
She’s handling the money of the Filipino tax payers, intended for their benefit, why haven’t she as VP spelled out exactly where or how those millions of pesos will be spent? She owes it to the Filipino people to explain satisfactorily and justify that her proposed budget of million pesos is appropriate, even as previous DepEd Secretaries Bro. Armin Luistro and Ms. Leonor Briones never had such a budget.
Other civilian government agencies also were allocated such confidential funds, and also expected to specify their plans for the satisfaction of the tax payers.
What is really strange under this current administration is that billions of the citizens’ money has been budgeted as “Confidential Funds!” Will the Filipino people have peace of mind, not knowing how these “confi-intel funds,” — actually their hard-earned tax payments — will be spent for the benefit of the millions of poor Filipinos — farmers, laborers, small vendors, IPs, fisher folks, jeepney drivers, other minimum wage earners, and the students?
Such a serious concern was actually raised by many speakers held in the massive rallies or parliament of the streets held in venues such as in front of the Comelec, Liwasang Bonifacio, Mendiola, People Power Monument, Bantayog ng Mga Bayani, and in other places last September 21, 2023.
This date was held as the Day of Remembrance of the plunder, atrocities, corruptions, tortures, desaparecidos, illegal detentions, murders, suppression of the people’s freedoms of assembly, speech, and press under Marcos Sr. brutal Martial Law regime.
And to give tribute to the thousands of heroes and martyrs who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Clearly, this administration has to clarify the mysterious “confidential funds,” and of course, not to forget to solve the myriad of problems facing our country today, soonest if possible.
The people are waiting for honest-to-goodness answers from the leadership tandem of Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte.
#PoliticsIsLife #BoniMacaranas #MysteryOfTheConfidentialFunds #2024Budget #SaraDuterte #Duterte #OVP #DepEd #Marcos #MarcosDictatorship #CIF #IntelligenceFunds #OpinYonColumn #OpinYon