The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the government may also use the confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) under the 2020 national budget for government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado said the DBM would have to determine the amount of CIFs that can be realigned should they are given the greenlight to do so.
Avisado told the BusinessMirror they are looking at all “possible sources of funds” that can be used by government as it grapples with the economic costs of the Covid-19 pandemic.
What’s important is government is doing everything possible, he added in Filipino.
BusinessMirror sought Avisado’s response to the proposal by House Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France L. Castro’s for President Duterte to realign some P9.6 billion in confidential and intelligence funds. Castro described these funds as “questionable.”
Castro also said the amount also includes the President’s P4.5 billion confidential and intelligence fund that, according to her, is “subject to a near-negligible audit only.”
“This will surely be a better use of the taxpayer’s funds,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
Based on the DBM’s latest list of Special Allotment Release Orders and Notices of Cash Allocation, the agency has so far released this year 24 Saros and NCAs for Intelligence Fund requirements of different agencies collectively amounting to P2.558 billion while one Saro and NCA worth P100 million was released by DBM to cover the confidential expenses of the National Security Council for this fiscal year.
Broken down, the DBM for this month alone released six Saros amounting to a total of P1.69 billion to cover the requirements for Intelligence Fund of Presidential Security Group (P12 million), Philippine Marine Corps (P7.43 million), Philippine Navy (P32.316 million), Philippine Air Force (P17 million), Philippine Army (P444 million) and Department of National Defense (P1.178 billion).
In March, the DBM released 18 Saros collectively amounting to P867.929 million to the Philippine National Police for its central office as well as its different regional offices specifically to cover their funding requirements for Fiscal Year 2020 Intelligence Fund.
At the same time, the Department of Finance (DOF) also shut down calls for a government debt service moratorium with international lenders.
Several lawmakers, including Castro and House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate as well as Bayan Muna Chairman Neri J. Colmenares asked the government to consider a debt service moratorium with key international and multilateral lending institutions “to free at least a trillion of funds to help micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as rehabilitate the country from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
But Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Y.C. Joven, who heads DOF’s International Finance Group, told the BusinessMirror they are not currently considering this proposal.
“This is off the table since government finances are quite sufficient now,” Joven said in a text message.
Asked if he thinks this proposal would damage the country’s credit rating, Joven replied: “I think standing by our obligations will improve our credit ratings if other [countries] don’t stand by theirs.”
Last month, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank issued a joint statement calling on official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from IDA (International Development Association) countries that request forbearance to help them tackle the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Based on the World Bank’s web site, the IDA is the largest source of concessional finance for the world’s 76 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. The IDA has been historically funded largely by contributions from governments of its members-countries.