ARTA seeks P10M confidential funds

The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) is seeking P10 million confidential funds to help its operations against fixers in 2024.

“We believe that ARTA, having a law enforcement function, requires confidential funds for investigations, surveillance operations, and entrapment operations against fixers or fixing activities,” ARTA director-general Ernesto Perez said during the Senate finance committee hearing on ARTA’s proposed budget for 2024.

According to Perez, these activities are done in collaboration with the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the National Bureau of Investigation.

“But we submit to the kind discretion of the body if this confidential fund will be reinstated or not. But we will grateful if somehow, we will be given some amount depending on the availability of the budget to help us, as a law enforcement agency, conduct more surveillance and entrapment operations against fixers,” he said.

Without confidential funds, Perez said ARTA’s actions are “limited” as these funds would also cover expenses for the lease of safehouses for witnesses.

Asked by Senator Risa Hontiveros the amount that they are asking for, Perez said P10 million or the same fund that was given to them last year.

Of the P10 million given to them in 2022, Perez said only P8 million were utilized “because of the disruption in the appointment process.”

“We returned about P2M pesos but we would like to assure the body that these are all fully accounted for,” he said.

According to GMA Integrated News Research, 28 agencies have formally sought confidential funds in their 2024 budget, up from the 21 offices asking for such appropriation in 2016.

The Department of Budget and Management earlier said the total amount of confidential and intelligence funds across all agencies in the proposed 2024 budget is P10.14 billion, including P4.5 billion for the Office of the President (P2.25 billion confidential and P2.31 billion intelligence fund) and P500 million for the Office of the Vice President.

A Joint Circular No. 2015-01 of the Commission on Audit (COA) identified confidential funds as allocations that civilian government agencies use for surveillance activities supporting their mandate.

This is different from the intelligence fund (IF) which is being used by the uniformed, military personnel, and intelligence practitioners in sourcing information related to national security. —VAL, GMA Integrated News