Abad applauds rules for Intelligence Funds

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. Photo courtesy of the World Economic Forum 2014 / Fotopedia

MANILA — Budget and Management Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad has welcomed the signing of the Joint Circular on Confidential and Intelligence Funds (IF) by various government agencies, as the Aquino administration continues to improve transparency and accountability in the use of funds while ensuring just and lasting peace and the rule of law in the country.

With the circular, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of National Defense (DND), the Governance Commission for GOCC (GCG), and the Commission on Audit (COA) will have specific guidelines to follow on the “entitlement, release, use, reporting, and audit” of Confidential Funds (CF) and Intelligence Funds (IF).

“The very nature of the IF makes it vulnerable to misuse. If properly spent, however, the funds can promote greater stability and security in the country, both of which are necessary to inclusive development.”

As such, Abad said, the formulation and implementation of the circular is timely: “This Joint Circular comes at a time when our people are demanding greater accountability in public financial management. Citizens now are more intolerant of fund abuse in the Philippine bureaucracy, and rightly so.”

He added that the circular — which has clearer guidelines as well as stronger internal controls and accountability on the management of the IF — will enable the National Government to responsibly enact legitimate intelligence gathering and response intervention activities against increasingly complex security challenges with sufficient financial support.

Abad said, “Every time the government taps public funds like the IF, we need to guarantee that the money is always used for the people’s benefit. By reforming the use of these funds, the Aquino administration can ably meet its commitments to preserve national security, all while ensuring better governance and responsible fund use.”