By Junex Doronio
Led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, the House of Representatives has made the right move as six (6) out of 10 Filipinos approved the move of the lower chamber to reallocate the confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of civilian agencies to agencies tasked to safeguard the country’s security and sovereignty.
This was revealed in a survey by OCTA Research during the period a few days after the House of Representatives passed on third reading House Bill 8980, or the “2024 General Appropriations Bill,” where it was revealed that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), headed by VP Sara Duterte as its concurrent Secretary, had CIF allocated in their budget.
Administration ally Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo revealed that the OVP spent its P125 million CIF in just 11 days in 2022 and not 19 days as originally reported.
In its third quarter Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 this year, 57 percent of respondents agreed with the decision of the House leadership to realign the confidential funds to agencies directly tasked to safeguard the country’s security and sovereignty.
Support for the lower chamber’s move was highest in Balance Luzon at 75 percent, followed by the National Capital Region at 65 percent, Visayas at 24 percent, and Mindanao at 24 percent.
Only 14 percent disagreed with the HOR’s decision, while 29 percent “did not know” or refused to answer.
Notably, the so-called “intelligencia” class appears more politically aware as 72 percent of socioeconomic class ABC agreed with the realignment of CIF. In comparison, 56 percent and 54 percent of Class D and E agreed to the realignment, respectively.
(ai/mnm)
