By Erika Mae P. Sinaking, Reporter
THE Commission on Audit’s (CoA) plan to review rules governing confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) could lead to wider governance reforms if it results in stronger accountability and tighter safeguards on public spending, analysts said.
“One important legacy of the impeachment controversy could be the reform of how confidential and intelligence funds are governed,” De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Diplomacy and Governance Dean Gary D. Ador Dionisio told BusinessWorld via Facebook Messenger.
“The proceedings have exposed gaps and ambiguities in the existing rules. We should therefore move the discussion beyond personalities and ask what institutional lessons the government can learn from this experience,” he added.
Audit Commissioner Douglas Michael N. Mallillin told lawmakers during House of Representatives budget deliberations last week that the agency plans to propose changes to the joint circular governing confidential and intelligence funds.
“Based on the previous hearings regarding confidential funds, shortcomings also came to light that need to be addressed in our joint circular,” he said in Filipino.
Joint Circular No. 2015-01, issued by CoA, the Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, and Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations, sets guidelines on the release, use, reporting and audit of confidential and intelligence funds.
The planned review comes after weeks of Senate impeachment hearings involving Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, where lawmakers scrutinized P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice-President and the Department of Education during her tenure.
Mr. Dionisio said the hearings underscored that confidential funds remain subject to public accountability.
“The hearings send a strong message that confidential funds remain public funds and can eventually be subjected to audit, administrative, congressional and even political scrutiny,” he said. “This should encourage officials to exercise greater diligence in authorizing, spending, documenting and liquidating these funds. In democratic governance, secrecy cannot become a shield against accountability.”
He said reforms should cover the entire accountability process, including clearer rules on allowable expenditures, stronger documentation requirements, tougher audit procedures and accountability mechanisms for officials who request, approve and supervise CIF use.
Malacañang has said it is open to reviewing the rules while stressing that existing regulations remain in force until amendments are approved.
Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro said the existing framework already provides guidance but acknowledged that safeguards could be strengthened to prevent abuse of loopholes.
Voltaire Bohol, president of the August Twenty-One Movement, said the impeachment proceedings could make public officials more cautious in handling confidential funds, although lasting reforms would require legislative action.
He cited the proposed Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act, also known as the “Blockchain the Budget” bill, which seeks to create a digital platform containing government budget and transaction data.
The Senate approved Bill No. 1506 on third reading in December 2025 but it remains pending in the House.
“Agencies can implement changes themselves, but unless we have new laws that will become institutionalized, there will always be the danger that a future administration will change the rules of the game again,” Mr. Bohol told BusinessWorld via Viber.
The measure was recently excluded from the shortened list of Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council priority bills for the next 12 months, although it remains part of the council’s broader list of priority measures.
Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” A. Aquino IV has questioned its exclusion from the shorter list.
Mr. Bohol said broader transparency measures are needed if the lessons from the impeachment proceedings are to translate into lasting institutional reforms.
“There was a sense of frustration the other day for Senator Bam who is the prime mover of this CADENA bill, which is meant to make sure there is finally transparency in the government,” he said.
Mr. Dionisio warned that failing to address weaknesses identified during the proceedings would amount to a missed opportunity for reform.
“Inaction could create the impression that the government considers the present system adequate despite the weaknesses exposed by the proceedings,” he said.
“The impeachment controversy should not end simply with the political fate of one official. The government should ask what weaknesses were exposed and what safeguards must be strengthened to prevent similar controversies in the future,” he added.