Castro urges Marcos, Sara: Realign confidential funds to P10,000-per-family ayuda

A leader of the House minority on Monday called on President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte to forego the proposed confidential fund allocations for their respective offices in 2023 and have these realigned for cash aid to those in need.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of the ACT Teachers party list suggested that their combined confidential and intelligence fund allocations under the proposed P5.26-trillion national budget may instead benefit 500,000 poorest families given P10,000 each

Out of the proposed P9-billion CIF, P4.5 billion has been allocated to the Office of the President.

The Office of the Vice President has proposed to have P500 million in CIF.

"Kung talagang may concern sila lalo sa mga pinakamahihirap na sektor ng ating lipunan, dapat ay ibigay na nina President Marcos Jr at Vice President Duterte ang kanilang confidential and intelligence funds sa ayuda," Castro said.

(If they are concerned about the poorest of the poor, they should let go of their CIF.)

"This P5 billion would already help 500,000 families if they are given P10,000. This would translate to 2.5 Filipinos aided. This aid could also be spent on the local economy because these families would buy food, clothing, and pay bills so we will be hitting two birds with one stone," she added.

The 2023 proposed CIF for the Department of Education is also at P150 million, although the Senate has since realigned P152 million worth of agencies’ CIF to its maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

The Senate has left the proposed CIF of OP and OVP untouched.

The House of Representatives and the Senate are still reconciling their differing versions of the proposed P5.26 trillion budget for 2023, with the House realigning P77 billion and the Senate reallocating as much as P215 billion.

“Sana naman ay makinig ang pangulo at pangalawang pangulo sa kahilingan ng ating mga kababayang mahihirap lalo pa at magpapasko,” Castro said.

(We hope that they will listen to the call of the people, especially since the Christmas season is upon us.)

“Magandang pamasko sa kanila ang pag-anunsyo na sila ay makakatanggap ng P10,000 ayuda pagpasok ng bagong taon," Castro added.

(Such aid will be a nice Christmas gift and a jump starter for the new year.)

GMA News Online has reached out to OP and OVP and will publish their replies as soon as they become available. —NB, GMA Integrated News