MANILA, Philippines – Detained Senator Leila De Lima is pushing for the creation of a body which will monitor the use of intelligence fund of government agencies.
In a statement released on Thursday, De Lima said she has filed Senate Bill No. 377 which proposes the creation of Joint Congressional Intelligence Committee (JCIC) tasked to oversee intelligence activities of the administration, financial management, and expenditure of intelligence agencies.
The bill seeks all entities of the Philippine government which conduct intelligence activities and receive intelligence funds to keep the JCIC fully informed of all its intelligence activities, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity and any significant intelligence failure.
The opposition senator stressed it is necessary to scrutinize whether the government’s intelligence funds are properly used, particularly the billions of pesos allocated for the Duterte administration’s war against drugs and criminality.
“Throughout the years, this secrecy that surrounds the disbursement and utilization of intelligence and confidential funds has been used not only to protect intelligence activities but also to hide abuses in the utilization of these funds,” De Lima said.
Because of the necessary secrecy in the use of funds, the senator noted that these amounts appear as lump sums in the annual GAA and are not subject to the stringent regular auditing requirements of the Commission on Audit (COA).
De Lima cited as an example the P2.5 billion annual intelligence funds received by the Office of the President under the 2017, 2018 and 2019 General Appropriations Acts (GAA) for its intelligence and confidential activities in connection with its war on drugs and criminality.
The lawmaker underscored the importance of balance between maintaining confidentiality, upholding accountability and protecting civil liberties instead of undermining them.
“Intelligence funds must be properly utilized to prepare for the threats to national security rather than for partisan or dubious activities of any government official,” she said.
If enacted into law, the measure will mandate concerned government offices to obtain a signed letter from the President, or from the respective head of the constitutional body in cases involving entities enjoying fiscal autonomy, specifically authorizing the proposed intelligence activity before any amount is disbursed and expended for the proposed intelligence activity.
In turn, the President or the respective head of the constitutional body are required to provide the JCIC a copy of the authorization letter within 72 hours.
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