House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro raised serious concerns today regarding the potential misuse of intelligence and confidential funds by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Castro suggested that these funds may have been used as rewards for extrajudicial killings, not only in Duterte’s controversial anti-drug campaign but also against critics of his administration.
Rep. Castro highlighted the substantial allocations to intelligence and confidential funds in Davao during Duterte’s tenure as mayor, which continued under his daughter, now Vice President Sara Duterte, and his son, Mayor Sebastian Duterte. “Davao intelligence funds in 2011 were P109,500,000, in 2012 P113,000,000, in 2013 P115,000,000, in 2014 P120,000,000, and in 2015 P144,000,000,” Castro stated.
“Noong 2016 pa lang sa Davao P144M na ang confidential funds nila hanggang umabot na sa P2.697 billion noong 2022. Humirit pa ng illegal na P125M na OVP confidential fund si VP Duterte. Mula 2016 hanggang ngayon nasa mahigit P3 billion na ang nakuha ni VP Duterte na confidential funds pero kahit anong patunay na nagastos ito ng tama ay wala tayo,” she added.
Rep. Castro emphasized that the P2.697 billion designated as confidential funds from 2016 to 2022 for the mayor of Davao City could have been better utilized to support the education sector, particularly benefiting teachers. She highlighted that if allocated differently, these funds could have provided a P1,000 city allowance to approximately 17,000 Davao City teachers for more than 13 years. “This funding could have greatly contributed to improving the quality of education by ensuring that teachers had access to essential teaching materials and resources, ultimately benefiting the learning experience of countless students, at least for Davao City,” Castro said.
Citing Col. Royina Garma’s testimony at the Quadcom hearing, that confidential funds were used as reward money for drug war EJKs, Castro said that the confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the President (OP) in 2016 were P500,000,000, in 2017 were P2,500,000,000, in 2018 were P2,500,000,000, in 2019 were P2,500,000,000, in 2020 were P4,500,000,000, in 2021 were P4,500,000,000, and in 2022 was P4,500,000,000.
“It was during this time when thousands have been killed under the fake drug war and hundreds more were killed who were critics of the Duterte administration,” Castro noted. She observed that during the first two years of the Duterte administration, the confidential and intelligence funds were around P2.5 billion, but when the administration intensified its attacks on critics, the funds jumped to P4.5 billion.
“Ang mga panahong iyon ang sunod-sunod ang mga raid sa mga opisina at tahanan ng mga progresibong organisasyon at indibidwal. Ito rin ang panahon ng sangkatutak na mga nanlaban daw sa mga pulis,” Castro concluded, urging a thorough investigation into the use of these funds and moved for their abolition for being so untransparent.#
