MANILA, Philippines — Former Senate president Franklin Drilon questioned the intelligence community's failure to detect the "surprise rally" of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) that created monstrous traffic along EDSA on Tuesday.
A pre-dawn rally organized by the INC led to the closure of major portions of EDSA, causing traffic jam, disrupting public transportation, delaying workers, and affecting business operations in Metro Manila.
The former senator said the incident exposed what he described as an "intelligence failure" despite the allocation of billions of pesos in confidential and intelligence funds.
“Billions were spent on intelligence funds. The public deserves intelligent results, not surprises,” Drilon said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Yet, the police themselves admitted there was zero intelligence on this rally, despite billions in intelligence funds. Where did the intelligence funds go?" he asked.
Drilon said that under the 2026 General Appropriations Act the national government allocated approximately P11.8 billion in confidential and intelligence funds.
"If government agencies failed to detect, anticipate, or prepare for an event of this magnitude, then there is clearly a serious failure in intelligence," he said.
Drilon called on the Commission on Audit (COA) to subject the government's intelligence expenditures to the same level of scrutiny previously applied to the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President under Vice President Sara Duterte.
He said COA should exercise the same diligence in auditing these intelligence funds.
"The same standards applied to the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President must likewise apply to the intelligence funds of the Office of the President and all agencies receiving them," he said.
