[OPINION] Giving credit where it is due

In fairness, Rep. Stella Quimbo kept her promise to raise questions at the congressional plenary budget deliberations on the P650-million confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) given to VP/Sec. Sara. As senior vice chair of the appropriations committee, she also joined Rep. Mannix Dalipe and Nonoy Libanan in the small panel, headed by House Appropriations Committee Chair Elizaldy Co, that unanimously voted to realign P1.23 billion in CIF, including Sara’s allocations, to agencies more directly concerned with national security.

Stung by the criticism against her initial justification of the Sara CIF, Quimbo detonated the second round of fireworks, especially in social media, with the revelation that VP/Sec Sara had spent P125M of CIF “augmentation” in 2022 in 11, not 19, days. Duterte insisted that Quimbo was wrong. Critical-thinking readers might wonder what difference a week makes. Would a longer disbursement period justify Sara’s CIF?

Not according to the top leaders of the CMD (Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats), PDP Laban (Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan), NPC (Nationalist People’s Coalition), Nacionalista Party, and National Unity Party (NUP), who also deserve credit for pushing the CIF realignment. Their primary concern was not the long  and well-argued vulnerability of secret CIF funds to corruption. Neither did they question the extraordinary speed of Sara’s CIF spending. Nor directly address the challenge that Sara’s CIF allocation possibly violated the constitution.   

The collective statement of the political parties pledging to allocate CIF funds to “agencies chiefly responsible for intelligence and surveillance” was a general response to the staggering and scandalous disparity between Sara’s generous P650-million CIF package and the pathetic, “frugal” budget dispensed to agencies explicitly mandated to oversee national security, including the DND (P97M) and NICA (P341M). In particular, the Chinese attempt to bar access of Filipino fishermen to traditional fishing grounds of Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) had alarmed the legislators.  

The Coast Guard now confronting China’s armada of naval and gray ships in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone had been granted a CIF budget of P10 million. Photographs of Commodore Jay Tariela showing the anchor fixing the Chinese floating barrier that the Coast Guard had “captured” must have been persuasive; the House appropriations committee realigned the CIF funds to agencies defending the country’s rights in the WPS. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Coast Guard also deserves commendation.

Should the PRC receive credit as well for provoking the action of the House? I think not. Should the PRC suddenly become benevolent, a blessing devoutly to be wished, the government remains obligated to take the measures necessary to protect national sovereign rights. It cannot base its security solely on the policies pursued by its neighbors.

Although surprised by the backlash against her CIF allocations, VP/Sec. Sara initially had the chance to escape the CIF controversy with a minimum of damage. She had coolly conceded that her jobs did not really require the funds she had requested. She graciously deferred the approval of her requests to the wisdom of congress. It was a smooth, judo maneuver, deftly shifting the burden of any blame on the DBM and the OP, which had approved her requests, and the legislators who had quickly passed the  possibly unconstitutional transfer of funds. She might then have earned a measure of credit for stepping back from the brink.

Instead, she undermined her position by giving her critics additional ammunition to attack her CIF, including her insistence that it took her 19 and not 11 days to disburse her 2022 augmented allocations. And then she doubled down and raised the stakes. The possible rejection of her CIF requests apparently caused her to doubt the wisdom of Congress. Speaking at the PNP Regional Office in Butuan City during the celebration of its 122nd Police Service Anniversary in Butuan City, she cautioned the police to listen and remember: “Whoever is against confidential funds is against peace. Whoever is against peace is the enemy of the state.”  

So, yes, VP/Sec. Sara lost the chance to score ”pogi” points when she used a broad brush to red-tag all those asking critical questions about her CIF. Predictably, her warning gained support from Sen. Bato de la Rosa and, presumably, ELCAC whom Sen. Tolentino speculated might get the funds.  

Those smeared by the red-tagging logic now includes members of the Bigger House of the legislature.  By their budget decisions, they have rejected the notion that: 1) they oppose CIF allocations in principle; and, 2) that their denial of CIF to certain offices made them enemies of the state. For Sara to make them her enemies would complicate her political calculations. Especially since the revelation of how the CIF budget had increased during the successive terms of Rodrigo and then Sara Duterte as Davao mayor has raised questions about the use of these funds.  Calls for investigation of these issues would also revive interest in the SALN of the Duterte family that have not been disclosed to the public.

But the Senate still has to render its judgment on the budget. The public must still take note of those who oppose limiting CIF to security agencies and requiring greater transparency in their use. As VP/Sec. Sara counsels: “Makinig kayo…at tandaan ninyo (listen and remember).” – Rappler.com

Edilberto de Jesus is a senior research fellow at the Ateneo School of Government.