THE subject of confidential funds — its nature, purpose, disbursement, coverage and recipients — has been the hot topic of conversation in the country. The ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte has made it a staple discourse among the key players in the impeachment trial and in regular conversation of the citizenry.
Simply put, confidential funds are special budget allocations set aside for government agencies to cover expenses related to surveillance and intelligence-gathering activities to secure the country from the enemies of the state, e.g., communist armed rebels, foreign and local Muslim terrorists, criminal syndicates, drug lords and traffickers of the illegal drug trade, and other armed groups that seek to overthrow the government and constituted authorities.
Using confidential funds is vital to the security of the state and its survival. They are used to monitor and gather information on the plans and programs of these rebellious and criminal sections of our society that disrupt the workings of a democratic system, that sow hatred against the government and commit violence against the citizenry, with the end in view of displacing the government with their own. These state enemies recruit the youth to their cause by disguised nationalistic aspirations. They attack government facilities and create terror in the communities through violence and intimidation. They ambush government officials who are engaged in activities designed to unmask their evil designs and halt their terroristic activities.
In order to neutralize these anti-democratic forces, it becomes extremely necessary for the government to devise ways and means to dismantle their subversive and criminal activities.
To effectively destroy these state foes, the government must penetrate their organizations by either embedding its own people in them or buying the loyalty of some of their members to get information on how they operate, how they recruit individuals to their cause, how they engage in propaganda, how they infiltrate the government bureaucracy, how they organize humanitarian groups as a cover, how they are able to sit as members of Congress, the identification of their leaders and members as well as their allies disguised as nationalist advocates.
The implementation of these counter-activities by the government necessarily requires funds sourced naturally from the people’s coffers. These special funds are known as confidential funds.
By the very nature of the sensitivity and confidentiality of these government activities against rebels and criminals, the use of these funds is classified, meaning it cannot be divulged in public, for to do so would imperil the lives of those involved in these special government security operations, as well as their families, and throw a monkey wrench on the government’s strategic fight against these anti-government forces.
Necessarily, to protect the lives of the government agents that have penetrated their organizations and those inside their organizations providing valuable information to the government on their operations and programs, their identities cannot be revealed. They cannot be identified as the recipients of these confidential funds. The monitoring and surveillance activities of this special group of government operatives and informants must be in secrecy. Their safe houses can neither be exposed nor how they acquired them. Neither can the means of transportation that they use, whether by land or air, can be revealed to the public. Their expenses in undertaking these covert government operations cannot be compromised. How they compensate their sources of information, whether by way of cash or in kind, cannot be restricted.
Since the disbursement of the confidential funds is sub rosa, and not subject to the regular government auditing process, it is naturally prone to abuse because the disbursers of the taxpayers’ money are not required to liquidate their disbursements by producing official receipts. Only acknowledgment receipts are required. Hence questions like, how do we know that the disbursers of the confidential funds did not pocket the money?
The proof that the confidential funds were used for the purpose for which they were intended would be on the condition of the peace and order of the country in general, and in particular, in the specific areas where these government operations were undertaken.
There has been a significant reduction in the expansion and recruitment of the New People’s Army (NPA) as well as in the bombing of various areas in Mindanao by the foreign terrorists and their local counterparts at the inception of the presidency of former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte by the foreign terrorists. He repelled the Marawi revolt. He successfully stopped the conversion of barangay (villages) into NPA-influenced territory and reduced the substantially the number of the armed component of the NPA.
However, as soon as ex-president Duterte stepped down as president, there was a resurgence in the communist rebels front and the terrorists.
To the credit of the current president, he appointed Sara in 2023 as co-vice chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), and provided her with confidential funds to strengthen the war against the communist insurgents and other nemesis groups of the state. In succeeding years, as Secretary of Education and head of the Office of the Vice President, Sara requested allocations of confidential funds for both offices.
Following her aforesaid appointment and release of confidential funds to her offices, and use thereof, there has been a marked decrease in violent communist rebels and terrorist activities, particularly in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Currently, insofar as the peace and order of the country is concerned, it is controlled. So are the known lairs of the rebel group contained.
This containment of the violent and seditious forays of the communist rebels and terrorizing forces resulted in the current relatively peaceful and orderly environment. Such situation is a positive indication that the confidential funds, given to the said offices were used lawfully and effectively in crushing the government’s violent adversaries.
In the years mentioned, there have been no reported major assaults by these extremists on government offices and facilities, communities and local government officials. No bombing of military installations, government buildings, places of worship and public places. No reported kidnapping for ransom of prominent and wealthy personalities. There is no reign of terror. Significantly, the NPA has not launched any founding anniversary attacks against civilians and government forces. What the country is experiencing is a collective disgust and protest against failed governance and delivery of basic services, and the plunder of the nation’s wealth by crooked politicians, plus the failure to prosecute them.
The national security of the state has been preserved and protected, undoubtedly owing to the regular and potent use of the confidential funds. This climate of peace and security against virulent and bloody transgressions against the government and the populace is clear proof that there was no irregular nor unlawful use of confidential funds.
