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The Senate, sitting as an Impeachment Court, resumed its hearing Monday, August 3, 2026, regarding Article I of the case against Vice President Sara Duterte, concerning the alleged misuse, questionable liquidation, and systematic misappropriation of confidential funds. Wendell D. Alinea, Senate Social Media Unit
MANILA — Former Senate President Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte have exposed deeper flaws in the government’s system for allocating and auditing confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).
Drilon said the testimony of Commission on Audit's Roderick Wamil, formerly assigned to its Internal Control and Fraud Audit Office (ICFAO), highlighted weaknesses in existing audit rules governing confidential funds.
“The witness is competent, but the testimony exposes the weakness of our auditing process, especially when it comes to confidential and intelligence funds,” Drilon said.
Rather than viewing the impeachment trial solely as a case against Duterte, Drilon said it should prompt Congress to revisit the entire confidential funds system, which now covers billions of pesos across the bureaucracy.
LACKING NATIONAL SECURITY MANDATE
Drilon questioned why agencies such as the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) were granted confidential funds despite lacking national security mandate.
“Only those agencies which by their mandate are expected to gather information should have intelligence funds,” he said.
He also criticized the previous transfer of P125 million in confidential funds from the Office of the President’s contingent fund to the OVP, arguing that it violated Supreme Court jurisprudence because the OVP had no confidential funds item in its regular budget that could legally be augmented.
Drilon cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Belgica v. Executive Secretary, saying budget augmentation requires an existing appropriation item.
He likewise argued that using fictitious names in liquidating confidential funds should not be tolerated.
“You don’t need to use fictitious names. That is not allowed under the law even for confidential funds,” he said, adding that such practice could constitute a prima facie case for malversation if public funds cannot be properly accounted for.
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Drilon acknowledged that Congress itself had not thoroughly scrutinized confidential funds over the years.
“In my 24 years of looking at the budget, I do not recall having looked at this with detail,” he said.
Drilon said Congress should review whether such expenditures remain justified.
“Two wrongs do not make a right,” he said. “It’s about time that we review closely this use of confidential and intelligence expenses.”
JOINT CIRCULAR SHOULD BE REVISED
Drilon said the fastest way to strengthen accountability is by amending Joint Circular No. 2015-1, which governs the release, use and audit of confidential and intelligence funds.
“The deficiencies lie in the joint circular. It must be stricter,” he said.
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He proposed limiting confidential and intelligence funds only to agencies with legitimate intelligence-gathering functions and strengthening safeguards against abuse while preserving the confidentiality needed for national security operations.
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“The impeachment trial simply exposed this weakness in our system,” he said.
The impeachment complaint against Duterte includes allegations involving the alleged misuse of confidential funds during her tenure as vice president and education secretary. Duterte has denied any wrongdoing.
Existing government rules on the liquidation of confidential funds neither explicitly allow nor prohibit the use of aliases in supporting receipts, Wamil said at Wednesday trial.
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