Castro questions Ombudsman's original proposal of P115M in confi funds in 2025

A lawmaker has questioned the Office of the Ombudsman's original proposal to be given P115 million in confidential funds in 2025, which is a huge jump from this year's P1 million.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of the ACT Teachers party-list raised the point during the House plenary deliberations on the Ombudsman’s proposed P5.8-billion budget for 2025.

“Based on the Ombudsman’s report, it got P31 million in confidential funds in 2023 and used P16 million. In the 2024 budget, it got P1 million worth of confidential funds. This means they still have P16 million [confidential funds from 2023 and 2024 allocations combined],'' she said.

"And for 2025, may proposal ang Ombudsman na P115,665,000 confidential fund pero ang nirekomenda po ng DBM (Department of Budget and Management) ay P51,468,000,” Castro said.

(The Ombudsman sought P115,665,000 worth of confidential funds for 2025, but the DBM only gave them P51.4 million.)

“Well, based on the submitted output and performance, the agency has been meeting targets, and we see indicators that the P1 million [from the 2024 budget] and the P15 million [left from the 2023 budget] are meeting targets. This is a good sign. However, nag-propose po ang Ombudsman ng P115,665,000 [for the 2025 budget]. Bakit kaya ganun kalaki po yung pinropose ng Ombudsman?''

(However, the Ombudsman proposed P115,665,000. Why did the Ombudsman propose such a big amount?)

The designated sponsor of the Ombudsman's proposed budget for 2025, Manila Representative Benny Abante, explained that the Ombudsman pushed for this amount because, historically, the DBM has given agencies less than the original proposal.

“Alam naman po natin na ‘pag 'yan ay nilagay sa DBM, ay babawasan po nila ‘yan, imbis na dagdagan. So, kung ito po ay matupad, Mr. Speaker, ay maaari ilagay po ito sa MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses) upang makatulong din naman sa mga pangangailangan ng ating Ombudsman,” Abante said.

(We are all aware that the DBM will make some reductions instead of increasing it once they receive the proposal. If the proposed P115 million is granted, this can be transferred to the MOOE to help address the Ombudsman's needs.)

Castro, however, countered that the 2015 inter-agency joint circular does not allow the use of confidential funds for MOOE.

“The confidential fund cannot be used for MOOE. If the Ombudsman wants an increase in MOOE, then they should ask for an additional MOOE budget. The DBM could have even approved the entire P115 million increase in MOOE because the DBM decides based on rate of utilization. So, what is the justification of the Ombudsman on this request [of P115 million confidential funds] because this cannot be considered MOOE?,” Castro said.

Abante answered that the DBM had already decided on the issue and only gave P51.4 million to the Ombudsman under the proposed P6.325-trillion budget for 2025.

“Only the P51 million [out of the proposed P115 million] was approved [by the DBM],” Abante said.

Abante said that the Ombudsman is open to Congress realigning the P51.4 million in confidential funds.

“Well, anyway, we have the authority to realign this, and the Ombudsman said that of the P51 million, Congress can allocate P1 million for the confidential fund and allocate the remaining P50 million for the MOOE,” Abante said.

Castro agreed with Abante and said that confidential funds need to be eliminated and reallocated to other budget items where audit findings can be made publicly available. — VBL, GMA Integrated News