By Liezelle Soriano
RETIRED Supreme Court Justice Adolfo Azcuna believes that Congress should pass a law overseeing the audit of surveillance or confidential intelligence funds.
He also opposed the proposed reallocation of surveillance funds in the 2024 budget, arguing that lawmakers should instead approve a different statute.
“Dapat, there should be a procedure, there should be the law that will define the procedure for auditing confidential funds. Maybe the COA (Commission on Audit) can propose or draft such a law para magkaroon ng accountability, even with respect to confidential funds but the confidential funds I think are needed,” Azcuna said in a radio interview.
The former SC justice said that the United States also has confidential funds.
“Iyung paggamit ng confidential fund wala naman ‘yan sa experyensiya ko sa Supreme Court. ‘Yung alam ko diyan, ‘yung confidential funds kahit sa US meron diyan, pero ang ginagawa nila sa US pag mayroong report on how it was used dine-delete nila yung confidential items,” he explained.
“Halimbawa ‘yung mga names of their secret agents, binubura ‘yan, nilalagyan ng black line. Kaya pag-publish, ‘di mo makita. Pero there is a general idea of how the money was spent,” he added.
Azcuna also believes that the President should put more details in his budget proposal on how the funds will be used.
“Iyung confidential funds, ‘yung paggamit niyan dapat ilagay na doon sa budget proposal, kung paano gamitin ‘yan,” Azcuna said.
Earlier, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Cong. Zaldy Co said that confidential funds will be realigned.
“As discussed, we will realign the confidential funds of various civilian agencies. Now is the time to give our intelligence community the means to perform their duties, especially in these pressing times when we’re facing serious concerns in the West Philippine Sea,” Co said.
The lawmaker said that it will be allocated to those who are tasked to address the security issues in the West Philippine Sea to “boost the country’s monitoring and operational capabilities in protecting our territorial waters and securing the rights and access of Filipino fishermen to their traditional fishing grounds.”
(ai/mnm)