Marcos ‘very transparent’ on confidential, intel funds, says Castro

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is “very transparent” when it comes to the Office of the President’s (OP) confidential and intelligence funds, Palace press officer Claire Castro said Wednesday.

Castro made the remark after ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio questioned the OP’s P4.56 billion allocation for confidential and intelligence funds under the proposed 2027 national budget during the House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday. Tinio flagged that nearly half of the OP’s overall proposed budget was allotted to such funds.

READ: Tinio questions OP’s secret funds, seeks fair transparency rules

Article continues after this advertisement

The committee voted 37-5 to swiftly end the debate on the OP’s proposed P10.1 billion budget, cutting short discussions after the panel deferred further questioning on its spending plan due to parliamentary courtesy. Tinio, however, pressed his point and called for transparency to be applied across all government agencies.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

During Wednesday’s briefing, Castro defended the proposed confidential and intelligence funds, saying these are essential to the OP’s operations.

“At patungkol po sa transparency, ang Pangulo po kapag nag-report po iyan, ang Office of the President kapag nag-report po iyan, kahit itanong ninyo po kahit saan, kumpleto po iyan ng report. Nagri-report po ito sa Senado, so makikita po nila kung saan ito dinadala,” she said.

(And regarding transparency, whenever the President, or the Office of the President, submits a report, the report is complete. You can ask anywhere, and the records are all there. The Office of the President reports to the Senate, so they can see where the funds are being allocated.)

“So, iyong transparency na pinag-uusapan natin, very transparent ang Pangulo pero, of course, that’s confidential fund, so nandiyan po iyan sa tamang ahensiya. At bultu-bulto po, iyan po ay naipabatid sa atin at naipaalam na kapag nagri-report po ang OP pagdating sa confidential funds ay bultu-bulto po ang mga dokumento at hindi po gumagamit ng mga resibo na maaaring masabing kuwestiyonable,” the Palace official also said.

Article continues after this advertisement

(So, regarding the transparency that we’ve been talking about, the President is very transparent. But, of course, these are confidential funds, so the records are kept with the proper agency. We have been informed that when the Office of the President reports on confidential funds, the documents are submitted in bulk, and they do not use receipts that could be considered questionable.)

Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, during the hearing, also stood by Marcos’ authority to maintain confidential funds as the country’s chief executive.

Article continues after this advertisement

Recto noted that the Commission on Audit had issued an unmodified opinion on the OP’s financial statements, which he described as “the highest opinion ever for all government agencies.”

“The president is the chief executive officer. The president is the head of state, so his first job is to ensure law and order and that is where confidential funds are being used,” he told reporters in mixed English and Filipino. /mr