1 
Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL No. _____ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by  
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,  
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,  
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
MANDATING THE OVERSIGHT AND AUDIT OF GOVERNMENT 
INTELLIGENCE AND CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money have been allotted to intelligence and 
confidential funds, programs and activities of the government.  According to the 
General Appropriations Act FY 2023, intelligence expenses and confidential expenses 
were allocated a budget of ₱5.22 billion and ₱4.85 billion, respectively. 
From 2020 to 2022, ₱2.25 million is allocated on both intelligence and 
confidential expenses of the Office of the President (OP).  This is an unprecedented 
increase of 400% from the request during the last year of the Benigno Aquino III 
administration.  According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the 
intelligence and confidential funds will be used “mainly for President Rodrigo R. 
Duterte’s war against drugs, criminality and corruption.” The OP holds more than half 
of the entire intelligence and confidential fund despite the fact that it is not a unit 
primarily responsible for surveillance and intelligence outcomes. 
Worse, under the Marcos Jr. administration, the intelligence fund of the OP in 
2023 was further increased to ₱2.31 billion or around ₱6.33 million budget per day. 
Furthermore, there are unprecedented increases in the confidential fund of the following 
government agencies under GAA 2023: 
February 14, 2023
1:45 pm
7158


 
 
2 
 
2022 
2023 
Office of the Vice President 
0 
500.000 
Department of Education - Office of the Secretary 
0 
150.000 
Department of Interior and Local Government - 
Office of the Secretary 
80.600 
100.600 
Department of Justice - Office of the Secretary 
176.071 
526.480 
Department of Defense - Office of the Secretary 
37.000 
87.000 
National Intelligence Coordinating Agency 
1.000 
127.413 
In million pesos 
 
The Commission on Audit (COA) has repeatedly noted the main issue in 
confidential and intelligence funds—they escape genuine audit and public scrutiny, 
while the ones handling them escape accountability to the taxpayers.  In 2015, state 
auditors found that the Department of National Defense failed to liquidate a total of 
₱82.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  Almost 
the entire amount disbursed were only identified as “advances to officers and 
employees.”   Indeed, black budgets—practically bottomless funds with near-nil 
oversight—make for dubious policies, questionable effectiveness, and wasted money. 
 
Looking at the figures makes one regret about lost lives, benefits, and 
opportunities: ₱4.56 billion could have somewhat eased some of the shortages in public 
education, public health and other social services. 
 
As these funds are prone to misuse, the COA, together with the DBM, 
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National 
Defense (DND) and the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), signed the Joint 
Circular on Guidelines on the Entitlement, Release, Use, Reporting and Audit of the 
Confidential and/or Intelligence Fund on January 8, 2015.  However, the safeguards in 
this Circular leave much to be desired from the point of view of the people trying to 
peek into the darkness of black budgets.  For one, the select few who have powers over 
the disbursement of intelligence and confidential funds are only required to submit 
affidavits and like documents, usually self-serving and sketchy, which documents are 
subjected only to the most perfunctory of audits. 
 
Congressional oversight on intelligence and confidential funds from the 10th up 
to the 16th Congresses were done through a Senate Select Oversight Committee on 
Intelligence and Confidential Funds, Programs and Activities that was created via 
plenary actions during said terms.  The Committee was not reinstated from the 17th 
Congress nor does it have a counterpart in the House of Representatives. 
 


3 
However, the Select Oversight Committee initiative, though a laudable effort, 
does not fully address the problems concerning transparency, accountability, and other 
malevolent issues surrounding the use of intelligence and confidential funds.  Notably, 
the Committee overlooked the fact that black budgets are most often used to target 
Filipino citizens who are private individuals, critics of the government, the opposition, 
political activists, and members of cause-oriented groups. 
It is high time for the government to rectify this unconstitutional mode of 
allocating intelligence and confidential funds that are free from audit, public scrutiny 
and official accountability. 
This Bill was first filed by Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño during the 
15th Congress as House Bill No. 4127. It was refiled by Bayan Muna Party-List during 
the 16th, 17th and 18th Congresses. 
Immediate approval of this measure is earnestly sought. 
________________________________ 
Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO 
ACT Teachers Party-List 
________________________________ 
Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS 
GABRIELA Women’s Party 
________________________________ 
Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
KABATAAN Party-List 


4 
Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL No. _____ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by  
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,  
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,  
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT  
MANDATING THE OVERSIGHT AND AUDIT OF GOVERNMENT 
INTELLIGENCE AND CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Intelligence and 
Confidential Funds Transparency Act of 2023.” 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. – The principle and practice of transparency in 
governance covers all branches, appendages, agencies, programs, policies and 
initiatives of the State. 
The 1987 Constitution emphatically states that the State shall maintain honesty 
and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft 
and corruption (Article II Section 27) and that no law shall be passed exempting any 
entity of the Government or its subsidiaries in any guise whatever, or any investment of 
public funds, from the jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit. (Article IX Section 3). 
Article III Section 7 stated that the right of the people to information on matters 
of public concern shall be recognized. 
This Act shall widen the parameters of our country’s democracy by once and for 
all clearly defining that all State funds are indeed subject to audit, public scrutiny and 
official accountability. 
7158


 
 
5 
 
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. – For purposes of this Act,  
 
a. Intelligence funds are funds provided for those related to intelligence 
information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel, and 
intelligence practitioners that have direct impact on national security. 
 
b. Confidential funds are funds provided for those related to surveillance activities 
in civilian government agencies that are intended to support the mandate or 
operations of the agency. 
 
Intelligence funds shall only be released upon approval of the President, while 
confidential funds shall only be released or disbursed upon the approval of the 
Department Secretary concerned. 
 
SEC. 4. Submission of Accomplishment Reports. – All departments, bureaus, 
offices or agencies, shall submit to the President of the Philippines, both Houses of 
Congress, and Chairperson of the Commission on Audit, a detailed quarterly report on 
the disbursement of and use of intelligence and confidential funds. 
 
SEC. 5. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Intelligence and 
Confidential Funds. – Pursuant to its constitutional duties, Congress and the 
Commission on Audit shall discharge Oversight functions to wit: 
 
(a) There shall be a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Intelligence and 
Confidential Funds (JCOCIF) composed of five (5) members each from the 
Senate and the House of Representatives. The JCOCIF shall be co-chaired by 
the chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers 
and Investigation, and the House Committee on Good Government and Public 
Accountability. It shall include the chairpersons of the Senate Committee on 
Finance and the House Committee on Appropriations as well as two members 
from the Senate and House minorities. The Joint Congressional Oversight 
Committee shall have its own independent counsel; 
 
(b) The Oversight Committee shall conduct a semi-annual review of the status and 
implementation of all programs and activities financed by intelligence and 
confidential funds, its compliance with this Act and existing laws of the 
Republic and report to Congress not later than June 30 of each year; 
 
(c) The Commission on Audit shall conduct a yearly special audit on all 
intelligence and confidential funds and report to Congress not later than June 
30 of each year. 
 
SEC. 6. Non-Interference in Oversight and Audit Functions. – In no way shall 
any government agency, appendage, and its subsidiaries in any guise; or any private 


 
 
6 
entity, interfere with the oversight functions of Congress and the constitutional mandate 
of the Commission on Audit. 
 
SEC 7. Use of Intelligence and Confidential Funds. – Confidential and 
intelligence funds provided for in the budgets of departments, bureaus, offices or 
agencies of the National Government, to be used for intelligence, counter-intelligence 
and confidential activities, shall be released only upon the expressed recommendation 
of Congress via Joint Resolution, and the approval of the President of the Philippines. 
 
SEC. 8. Declassification of Intelligence and Confidential Funds Documents. 
– Documents related to the use of confidential and intelligence funds shall be 
automatically declassified by the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on 
Intelligence and Confidential Fund ten (10) years after the annual audit of such 
documents. Provided that, no information related to the use of intelligence and 
confidential funds may remain classified indefinitely. 
 
SEC. 9. Penalties. – The non-submission of accomplishment reports as defined 
in this Act shall bar the release of any and all allocations for intelligence and 
confidential funds until said agency complies with Section 4. 
 
Any person who violates Section 4 of this Act shall result in the absolute 
perpetual disqualification from holding any public office, notwithstanding applicable 
administrative and criminal penalties. 
 
SEC. 10. Separability Clause. – Should any provision of this Act be declared 
unconstitutional, the validity or constitutionality of the other provisions shall not be 
affected thereby. 
 
SEC. 11. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees, letters of instruction, 
resolutions, orders, ordinances, issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with 
the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly. 
 
SEC. 12. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in a newspaper of general circulation. 
 
 
Approved,