The CIF conundrum

The President believes if we concentrate on prevention and rehabilitation we can reduce the demand for illegal drugs

There’s a lot of confusion and mudslinging in connection with the “Confidential and Intelligence Fund.”

Santa Banana, there’s a need for Congress, especially the House of Representatives, which holds the purse of the country as it were, to clarify what is CIF and how it should be accounted for.

The National Appropriation Act or the National Budget represents the hard-earned money of the people.

The public officials holding the CIF should be made accountable for every centavo given them.

The conundrum over the CIF has become controversial that Vice President Sara Duterte as Secretary of Education is now taking the heat.

First of all, what does “confidential funds” represent?

They are supposed to represent expenses for maintenance and other expenses for the office such public officials hold, and an agency’s surveillance-related activities.

Intelligence Funds refer to the gathering of information related to national security.

Confidential funds may be released upon the approval of the department secretary where such an agency belongs while intelligence funds need the President’s approval.

The big difference between the two funds is the need to gather information related to national security.

Thus, there’s need for the Armed Forces, the Department of National Defense, the National Intelligence Coordination Agency (NICA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Philippine Navy, especially the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to have intelligence funds.

When local officials in the Local Government Units have the CIFs that’s where the problem lies.

And all those that use CIFs should be monitored by the Commission on Audit (COA).

The COA should monitor and make public officials accountable for any abuse or misuse of their CIFs .

Thus, Sara Duterte, as Mayor of Davao City from 2016 to 2022, used her CIF that ballooned from 2016 to 2022 which can raise questions where the problem lies.

As revealed, Santa Banana, Sara Duterte’s confidential funds can raise eyebrows.

As two of the richest cities nationwide,