Imagine yourself having P460 Million every year as Confidential/Intelligence Funds as ruler of a regional cosmopolitan city…you have a personal war chest or kitty to govern by DOLEOUTS.
[This practically means you can spend P1,260,000 – plus DAILY because there are only 365 days in a year, yet you have a budget for Confidential Funds at P460-M.]
If you have a political ally who badly needs a car, you can immediately purchase the same.
If you have a political leader who needs hospitalization, you can provide P50k in cash pronto.
If you have police or military officers requesting ayuda or supplies for their detachments and patrol bases, you can urgently grant their wishes.
If you have a horde of alms or solicitation seekers, you can let them lineup and then provide them with a minimum of P500 to P1k each – and in doing so, getting their lifelong devotion to you.
If you have anyone who you want to smoothen the edges of your relationship, you have the means to do so in earnest.
Otherwise stated, you as local chief executive, can truly RULE THROUGH DOLEOUTS AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WITH THE ADDED ADVANTAGE OF GETTING THE LOYALTY OF ALL THESE INDIVIDUALS THAT YOU ‘HELPED.’
That’s why as a ‘perk’ of governance powers, Confidential or Intelligence Funds can become ‘ADDICTING.’
[Especially in a city where NO ONE dares question your acts.]
It is true that under certain government issuances, Confidential and/or Intelligence Funds may only be spent for the following [and I’m just paraphrasing here]:
1. Purchase of Intelligence Information.
2. Expenses for Maintenance of ‘Intelligence Assets.’
3. Purchase of firearms and ammunition.
4. Purchase or Rental of Safe Houses.
5. Subsistence and other assistance for AFP and PNP units or personnel.
Nonetheless, it goes without saying that with the nature of Confidential Funds, the local chief executive can spend it however which way as the law mandates him or her to provide assistance to Intelligence Agencies or law enforcement officers to protect the safety and security of the people under the General Welfare Clause.
Unfortunately for you, when one is elevated to a higher office with a national stature, you can NO longer escape the principle of checks and balances. Worse, the eyes of the rambunctious Philippine press are now also trained at all your acts, be it official or unofficial.
Thus, when you demand, nay even just request, for Confidential Funds, it now comes with the understanding that if you THROW YOUR WEIGHT AROUND or START UNDERMINING THE AUTHORITY OF YOUR PRINCIPAL – you ought to be ready to account for the Confidential Funds that your received – subject to strict government accounting procedures.
Gone are the days that you can sweep everything under the rug as ‘Master’ of a regional city – with no one asking questions about how you spend taxpayers’ money.
Sadly, for you, Confidential Funds, instead of being a PERK has turned into a TRAP.
It is mind-blowing how an office spends P125 Million in just 11 days especially if your office is NOT part of the Security Cluster of the national government, and where historically, NO Confidential Funds are granted to it – due to the nature of the office.
NO ONE actually believes that those Funds were legitimately used in a span of 11 days. [Well, perhaps except those who continue to drink the Kool-Aid.]
Almost everyone agrees that the President, as Commander-in-Chief is entitled to CIF, including the AFP, the PNP, the NBI, even the BJMP, the BuCor and other uniformed services. Even the Local Chief Executives need them as part of their mandate under the Local Government Code. CIF are somehow legitimately ‘needed’ by those offices.
But definitely NOT the office of the official spare tire of the Republic of the Philippines, and certainly NOT an agency whose mandate is to educate the young.
Still, since those funds are already there – it is now incumbent upon you to ACCOUNT for how those taxpayers’ money were spent by your office.
And therein lies the rub: You can’t because those were NEVER done in your city fiefdom where no one ever questions your acts.
Sadly, Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin can NO longer explain away how those hundreds of millions of Confidential Funds were spent.
The TRAP was set and now there’s NO getting out of it.
And by going nuclear against the powers-that-be in the current administration, the TRAP became a SNARE where to extricate oneself would require the end of your political career.
[Well, perhaps not in your city, where you can retreat, lick your wounds, and still govern without the overreaching intrusions of your political enemies.]
The funny thing about this entire spectacle? The present chief executive of the Republic didn’t have to move a muscle for these things to happen.
For as they say: THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT.
Atty. Dexter Lopoz is a human rights lawyer, an officer of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers of the Philippines and Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG)
confidential funds, philippines
