■ How did Sara Duterte Spend Her 125-Million Confidential Fund?

In one of my posts on X.com, someone asked me how Vice President Sara Duterte spent her 125 million Confidential Fund in 19 days.

In this blog post, I will answer the questions of some X/twitter accounts who swarmed to one of my posts about VP Sara Duterte's confidential fund. Before answering these questions, let me give the general rule in response to the main question of ex-Mayor Faith Francisco, the owner of Ping Ping Tweets.

■ How is Inday winning the Psy-war effortlessly in the issue of Confidential funds?

— She released a statement that she accepted the call of her critics to assail the legality of the transfer of CF. This is from a position of public confidence. She hit two birds with one stone…

— EDZ del Castillo (@EDZplanation) November 9, 2023

🟥 WHERE DID SARA DUTERTE SPEND HER 125 MILLION CONFIDENTIAL FUND IN 19 DAYS?

Under this subheading, I'm going to give you a general purview of the "classified" nature of Confidential Funds.

LOOK 👀 — SOMEONE ASKED ME THIS QUESTION ON X/TWITTER.

Let me answer the question of PingPing Tweets:

Any audit report related to CF—completed or ongoing—is already in the hands of public offices that have the visibility of the report as provided by lawful guidelines.

The reason why VP Sara Duterte cannot reveal this in public is not because she cannot explain it, but because there are law-based guidelines that prohibit this to be publicly disclosed (classified nature as provided by lawful guidelines).

The Congress should repeal the law or the SC should void the guideline first before Sara could disclose it publicly. She still needs to follow the lawful guidelines. If she discloses it, then she is also violating the guideline.

As long as no one is voiding the guideline that requires the CF to be confidential and that the Congress has not created a law to allow the disclosure of CF, then it means that the Congress is saying a message that Inday should NOT disclose it. The lawful guideline favors Inday.

🟥 CONFIDENTIAL FUND IS NOT EVIL IN ITS NATURE. IT IS A NECESSITY IN STATE OPERATIONS.

Before I discuss the technical nature of the Confidential Funds, I'd like to emphasize that the concept of "confidential fund" is not evil. It's just so disappointing that those who wanted to politicize the confidential funds have gone so far by demonizing it, not knowing that these politicians will also need confidential funds when circumstances warrant.

The system that allows confidential funds aligns with the endeavor of safeguarding the national security of every State or territory. In fact, confidential funds are present in most (if not all) states in the world; hence, the existence of confidential funds in various governments of the world signify that it's an integral part of government operations.

In the Philippines, the critics of VP Sara Duterte have gone hysterical demonizing her confidential fund but are silent on the confidential funds of their own allies. There is also misinformation circulating that the confidential fund is only limited to government agencies or departments that have the mandate to enforce laws and strategies in dealing with territorial sovereignty. These irresponsible misinformation peddlers (intentionally or cluelessly) have defined "national security" as a single concept limited to securing our territorial integrity or sovereignty. This little knowledge is very dangerous.

Truth to be told, "national security" also includes the continuity of education without compromising the safety of the students. NPA recruitment in school is a serious issue which is as serious as child trafficking and child-related cybercrimes that may start from student profiling in schools by syndicates and criminals working covertly.

Aside from threats in education, food is also a matter of national security. In this regard, agriculture also needs confidential funds as a matter of national security. Education and food are just two of the many elements that have something to do with national security.

Now that I have given some simple examples of national security issues (other than the subject of national sovereignty) that are easier to understand and less legalese, I will proceed on discussing the law-based guidelines that necessitates the confidential funds to be classified and be safeguarded from undue public disclosure.

🟥 WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC LAWS, GUIDELINES, OR PROVISIONS THAT PROVIDE THE "CLASSIFIED" NATURE OF CONFIDENTIAL FUND?

When I posted an essay on my thoughts about the confidential funds of Sara Duterte on X (formerly Twitter), the main question that was asked to me by the critics of Sara Duterte's confidential funds is this: "What are the laws that prohibit the undue public disclosure of confidential funds?" Let's answer that question in detail.

As I said in my replies, such a question is not answerable by a one-liner statement—since it needs context and a detailed explanation. A generic statement is actually my pet peeve in policy discourse. So, I minimize (if not avoid) making a conclusion based on a generic statement.

👀 LOOK: A RANDOM X ACCOUNT SEEMED CLUELESS OF THE GUIDELINES THAT PROHIBIT THE DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. SUCH CLUELESSNESS WAS MANIFESTED WHEN THEY ASKED ME THOSE QUESTIONS WHICH I PATIENTLY EXPLAINED.

Below are the laws, guidelines, and other provisions that justify the classified nature of the details of the confidential funds.

(1) Constitution: The use of classified funds is empowered by our Constitution. Generally speaking, the Constitution provides that government expenditures are subject to audit; and the books should be open to the public. However, the Constitution also provides an exception to the general rule per ARTICLE VI, Section 25 (6) to wit: Discretionary funds appropriated for particular officials shall be disbursed only for public purposes to be supported by appropriate vouchers and subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed by law.

The provision above gives us two qualifiers about the secrecy of discretionary funds. First, "such funds should be disbursed only for public purposes" means that discretionary funds may not be disclosed for non-public purposes. The ambiguity of "public purposes" is subject to the court's interpretation. The other qualifier is "subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed by law" which means that if there are guidelines that provide the procedure in handling the confidential funds, then such guidelines will be applied with the effect of a law.

(2) Memorandum Circular No. 78, s. 1964: This memorandum circular has the effect of a LAW in the absence of a republic act that negates its purpose and spirit.

The provision that caught my attention was Section VII, 34 (a) saying: No person in the Government shall convey orally, visually or by written communication any classified matter outside his own Department unless such disclosure has been processed and cleared by the Department Head or his authorized representative.

Critics may argue that Sara Duterte is the department head of DepEd which gives her the authority to disclose this. Take note that the provision I cited above does not talk about public disclosure. It is a disclosure to "another department." Regardless, the critics' latter argument is still weak. The guideline in dealing with Confidential Funds is referenced to several provisions that are interrelated. While it's true that this Memorandum empowers the department head to disclose classified information to another department, this is not as easy as you may think. I will discuss some more guidelines below which justify why Sara Duterte, despite being the department head, is still prohibited to disclose classified information to the public. As a department head, she still needs to follow the procedure before she could invoke her "department head" card in disclosing confidential information.

For the full provisions of the Memorandum Circular No. 78, s. 1964, follow this link.

(3) Memorandum Circular No. 196, s. 1968: This memorandum circular amended the latter with the addition of a new section that provided the guideline of communicating security. This amendment further fortified the prohibition of public disclosure of classified information by providing for specific methods of communication.

One provision that caught my attention is Section XI, 60 (c) which provides that "all classified messages within the Government service which are transmitted electronically should be encoded, enciphered and/or encrypted." This line is the complete opposite of "public disclosure." When Hontiveros demanded the public disclosure of classified information, it seemed like she was also demanding Sara Duterte to VIOLATE the lawful guidelines based on the instructions of this memorandum circular. Hontiveros seemed to be VERY CLUELESS of the nature of classified information. It's a form of immense incompetence being a lawmaker herself.

This memorandum circular recognizes the fact that in government offices, there are information that are meant to be "confidential" under the guise of national security. This means that Risa Hontiveros's demand to disclose the expenditure details of Sara Duterte's confidential fund that covered classified information is akin to violation of the lawful guidelines. Why would Hontiveros require/demand Sara Duterte to violate the provisions that have the effect of a law? Is Hontiveros promoting lawlessness or is she just clueless of her mandate as a lawmaker to promote law compliance?

Hence, Sara Duterte's confidential fund details—when messages are meant to be classified—are communicated this way, especially for the sensitive information and operations under the scope of her office. Despite the fact that the latter memorandum circular gives the department heads the power to decide whether or not a classified information should be disclosed, such department heads still need to follow the instructions, details, and procedures therein.

Asking a question on social media on how the confidential fund was spent means two things: (1) you are unaware of the lawful guidelines, or (2) you are aware of the guidelines but don't have the mental capacity to understand it. For the full guideline, follow this link.

If you read PingPing's question above, such is a manifestation of either (1) or (2). Below are some posts on X that are also problematic in its entirety. Do you think Cielo Magno's posts are under (2)? Magno was a former undersecretary of finance. I don't think she is unaware. I'd go for reason (2). Check out her ridiculous and seemingly clueless posts below.

LOOK: CIELO MAGNO SHARED THE "OPINION" OF FORMER JUSTICE CARPIO. • TO NOTE, OPINION IS NOT A FACT. EVEN IF CARPIO WAS A FORMER SC JUSTICE, HIS STATEMENTS OUTSIDE THE COURTS ARE CONSIDERED OPINIONS AND NOT A RULING OR A FACT.

LOOK: CIELO MAGNO MADE AN ORDER VIA SOCIAL MEDIA TO "RELEASE" THE ACCOMPLISHMENT REPORTS ASSOCIATED WITH A CERTAIN 125 MILLION • UNDER THE CONFIDENTIAL FUND CONTROVERSY, SARA DUTERTE WAS GIVEN A 125-MILLION PESO CONFIDENTIAL FUND WHICH, UNDER LAWFUL GUIDELINES, IS NOT SUBJECT TO PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.

Cielo Magno seemed like she had no cerebral capacity to understand the guideline despite being a UP lecturer and a former government official in the finance department. Is this the reason why the Philippines has one of the lowest IQ? Even UP lecturers and government officials like Cielo Magno—who can not understand simple instructions (as evidenced by her authoritative orders and demands via social media)—are given government jobs. You don't need to be a lawyer to understand the simple instructions in the guidelines. What you need is a rational brain, not a law degree.

(4) Letter of Instruction No. 1420, s. 1984

This LOI is another proof that the classified information under the ambit of Sara Duterte's Confidential Funds are PROHIBITED to be disclosed publicly. The provision below caught my attention.

All persons responsible for unauthorized disclosures or release of top secret, secret, confidential or restricted matters in violation of this Letter of Instructions and Memorandum Circular No. 78 shall be subject to disciplinary action or prosecution under the Revised Penal Code and other applicable laws.

If Cielo Magno demands for the disclosure of classified information, she is also endangering herself to be incriminated. The LOI provided that unauthorized disclosure of confidential information is subject to disciplinary action or prosecution under the Revised Penal Code. Cielo Magno may not be aware that there are a lot of brilliant lawyers out there who could pull this off. Brilliant lawyers could justify Cielo Magno's demand as "responsible for unauthorized disclosures." We may never know. Lawyering is an art or persuasive argument based on the law. Read the full LOI here.

Another notable provision was this: "Such top secret, secret, confidential and restricted matters shall not be disclosed or released to unauthorized persons or the general public and shall not be published or caused to be published without prior clearance from the Office of the President..

Is Cielo Magno an "authorized" person to "cause the CF to be published without prior clearance from the Office of the President" by making an authoritative order and demand on social media to disclose the confidential information? If the answer is NO, she may become an accessory to a crime or the principal by "causing classified information to be published" by making a demand and order on social media. Again, brilliant lawyers may justify this. If Cielo Magno wants a little challenge, then she can be adventurous by subjecting herself to court litigations to prove that she was right—that, if it's convenient to her to appear in the Court to defend herself by championing a cause to disclose classified information.

(5) Executive Order No. 608, s. 2007

This EO would possibly put more light to the possibly criminal demands of PingPing and Cielo Magno. Sadly, Magno and PingPing (ex-Mayor Faith Francisco) are private citizens who are NOT immune to getting jailed. For Risa Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc, they are immune from legal suits—giving them the potential to abuse and weaponize their political power as politicians. That's the reason why they can speak whatever they want. However, regardless of such immunity, their demand to make classified information accessible to "everyone" is FAR-FETCHED because of this EO. The devil is in the details. This dark proverb can be found under Section 1-C of this Executive Order as stated below:

Each department, agency or office of the government granting the Interim Security Clearance shall establish and maintain a Security Investigation Index for all personnel granted such Interim Security Clearance. The records of investigation(s) and the kind of clearance(s) issued shall be made a permanent part of the personnel’s 201 file. The Index shall contain the date of the investigation, the type of investigation conducted, the location of the investigative file, the date the clearance was granted, the signature of the authority granting such clearance and the category or level of classified matters to which such personnel is authorized to have access.

See? Everyone who will be granted an access to classified information shall undergo the following:

1. Security investigation
2. Permanent 201 file profiling
3. Date of investigation indexing
4. Type of investigation conducted indexing
5. Location of investigative file indexing
6. Clearance date indexing
7. Obtaining a signature from the granting authority
8. Indexing the level or category of classified matters to which such personnel is authorized to have access

If Risa Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc would advocate the public to have access to confidential information, this means that the government will be burdened with unrealistic job of monitoring more than 100 million citizens of the Philippines by performing the 8 requisites per individual who could access to classified information. Since Hontiveros wants the public to have access to the details of the confidential funds by demanding Sara Duterte to violate the guidelines for the sake of disclosure, our government still needs to follow the guideline of monitoring people with access to the tune of more than 100 million Filipinos. Is Risa Hontiveros thinking about this effect? Are Cielo Magno and PingPing aware of these chaos and crises that they are advocating to happen in the name of their pride, ego, and personal politics?

Read the full EO here.

🟥 ENDING EDZPLANATIONS AND THOUGHTS

In my previous EDZplanations above, I have discussed that the concept of national security is not limited to the job of the military in safeguarding our territorial integrity. National security as a concept is more complex than that—that it also includes our education system and the safety of Filipino students. Take note that safeguarding the safety of the students is not limited to the PNP or AFP. Under our guidelines, the Congress could appropriate Confidentail Funds to government agencies, GOCC, departments, etc. This is the reason why the DA and DICT also had CFs. The DA has its own niche and specialty that the military may have not been trained to do. This is also true for DICT and DepEd. The military has its own mandate, and its intelligence unit is tasked to do operations they were instructed to do which may not necessarily cover the different national security niches.

When a confidential fund is used for confidential matters as defined by the rules and policies above that have the effect of a LAW, it also follows that the public disclosure of the specific details of how it was spent is also prohibited. This is the reason why Sara Duterte can not simply disclose a detailed report. The Vice President needs to follow the guidelines; otherwise, she would violate the guideline and government policies.

The critics of the confidential fund of Sara Duterte like Risa Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc should educate themselves. They should walk the talk, because they are lawmakers. So, it is expected that they should know the lawful guidelines that prohibit the disclosure of classified information. Risa Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc should be the leaders in showing their detailed expenditure report. The MOOE of Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc is NOT confidential; hence, the law requires that they should disclose this in detail. Sadly, these politicians who demand the disclosure of the Confidential Funds cannot even disclose a detailed report of their own funds (like the US Congress way) which are NOT classified in nature. Why is it so hard for them?

How come that Risa Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc who are the champions of transparency cannot disclose in detail how they spent their MOEE? PARTIDA, the funds that Hontiveros and the Makabayan Bloc are using are NOT confidential in nature, yet they are afraid to show a detailed report. It's so ironic and hypocritical.

The confidential fund is still subject to audits, but the public cannot access the classified information. Only the COA and selected government offices, as provided by lawful guidelines, have the access to such classified information as per Joint Circular 2015-1.

Take note that the public's limited access to the details of the confidential fund is NOT the decision of Sara Duterte. It is the instruction provided by the guidelines. Hontiveros is a lawmaker herself. So, she should encourage Sara Duterte to comply with the guidelines by keeping the confidentiality of the classified information. It's just so ironic that Hontiveros is encouraging Sara Duterte to VIOLATE the guidelines by demanding the public disclosure of classified information. Hontiveros seemed to be IGNORANT of the guidelines that have the effect of a LAW, considering that Hontiveros is a lawmaker herself. Hontiveros seemed to be violating her own mandate in this particular issue for the sake of demonizing her political opponent named Sara Duterte.

To those asking how and where Sara Duterte spent her 125-million confidential funds, the answer is found in Joint Resolution 2015-1. Such a report is given to the House of Representatives through Speaker Martin Romualdez and the Senate through the Senate President Miguel Zubiri. This means that Risa Hontiveros can actually access the details by following the applicable procedures I discussed above. Unfortunately, Hontiveros went to mainstream media for political grandstanding despite her privileges as a Senator to access the report. Indeed, Hontiveros has chosen drama.