ACT Teachers Representative and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio delivered a hard-hitting interpellation on the Office of the President’s proposed 2027 budget at the plenary today, pressing the OP on its ballooning confidential and intelligence funds, its discretionary release of the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), and its silence on allegations linking the President himself to the flood control corruption scandal.
On confidential and intelligence funds, Tinio presented historical data showing that combined confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of the entire government remained below P2 billion from 2001 to 2016, before skyrocketing to nearly P6 billion in 2017 under the Duterte administration and reaching a peak of P12.120 billion in 2025 under the Marcos Jr. administration. The proposed CIF for 2027 stands at P10.77 billion. For the Office of the President alone, 45.22% of its total proposed 2027 budget — around P4.5 billion — will be confidential and intelligence funds.
“It is not normal, and it is not consistent with the principles of good governance, that nearly half of an agency’s budget is opaque — hidden behind the cloak of national security. Almost half of the OP’s budget is beyond normal scrutiny. And because these are cash disbursements, they are beyond normal procurement laws and procedures. No bidding whatsoever,” Tinio said.
Tinio also dismissed the OP’s invocation of an unmodified COA opinion as justification for the funds’ use. “We find it laughable that the OP is citing an unmodified COA opinion. That is exactly what the Office of the Vice President said before — and we saw how meaningless that proved to be when it came to the actual use of confidential funds,” he said.
When Tinio asked for even a general breakdown of CIF amounts — citing the Department of Justice, which disclosed its own breakdown of P700 million in confidential funds — the OP refused. Tinio then demanded the quarterly accomplishment reports on confidential funds which, under the General Appropriations Act, agencies must submit to the President and both houses of Congress. “The law says both houses of Congress, not merely the Office of the Speaker. These reports should be available to all members,” Tinio stressed, registering a standing request for copies of the reports.
Tinio then turned to the LGSF, which ballooned from P16.08 billion in the National Expenditure Program to P57.8 billion in the 2026 GAA, with a P58.5-billion request for 2027. He slammed the fund as “presidential pork,” noting that the President himself and the Executive Secretary have been publicly photographed distributing SAROs to select LGUs — including P500 million each to Naga City, the City of Manila, and Lipa City — while the vast majority of recipient LGUs receive P30 million or less.
“Whoever is close to the kitchen, so to speak, receives the big allocations. What are the criteria, and who decides? This is highly discretionary pork — presidential pork,” Tinio said. He likewise pointed out that the OP appears to be violating Section 35, Chapter 5 of the Administrative Code, which requires that expenditures from lump sum appropriations be made in accordance with a special budget approved by the President — a safeguard against abuse.
Finally, Tinio questioned why, following Senator Lacson’s Senate plenary revelations based on former Undersecretary Bernardo’s narration — alleging that some P52 billion in bicameral insertions were personally handled, with an P8-billion kickback delivered through dismissed officials to Malacañang — no official explanation has been given for the abrupt dismissal of Executive Secretary Bersamin, Budget Secretary Pangandaman, and the two undersecretaries, and no investigation ordered by the OP.
“Palace officials keep saying the biggest fish has been caught. But has it really? The record shows the President himself received Bernardo’s handwritten narration. He knows of these allegations, yet no investigation is being pursued precisely because he is involved. The hunt for the biggest fish in the flood control corruption scandal is not over,” Tinio ended.#
