Former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno compares the confidential expenses of Quezon City and Davao City

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... Ito nang umabot sa 2.6B ang kabuang confidential expenses or pondo ng Davao City from 2016-2022. So basically under then-Mayor Sara Duterte.

... So ang LGUs tama po ba?"

... So ito ang policy na naggo-govern ngayon sa CIF ng LGUs."

... Yung dataset na ito pinapakita ang annual revenues ng local governments pati expenditure nila based on function. So nung tinitingnan ko ito, naging very surprising yung comparison ng confidential fund versus kung ano yung items ng spending sa social services.

... So yun yung term niya ng 6 years. So pagtininingnan mo sa lahat ng 6 taon na yun from 2017-2022, laging mas malaki yung confidential fund dun sa inallocate nila for education, culture, sports and manpower development.

... Sa education spending nila P135M lang. 2018 lumaki yung confidential fund to P420M. Yung sa education spending is P320M, P810,000. 2019 tumaas ito to P460M. Ang education spending nila P416M.

... In fact noong 2020 bumaba pa yung education spending to P291M. Tumaas ulit ng P447M noong 2021 at P343M noong 2022. That's for education. So sa health naman, health, nutrition and population.

2017, nabanggit na natin confidential fund. So sa health and nutrition naman, yung kanilang 2017 is P260M, P820,000. 2018 P254M, P240,000. 2019 is P370M, 2020 is P387M.

... 2021 ito mas malaki na, pandemic period pa rin ito, P570M. At noong 2022 medyo malaki ito, P1,331M.

2017. Okay. 2017 to 2022 mas mataas yung confidential expenses kumpara sa education, culture and manpower. Tama? Yes.

Pero pagdating sa health nagbabary? May mga pagkakataon na?

Noong 2021 at 2022 mas malaki na yung health. Pero mula 2017 hanggang 2020 kasagsagan ng pandemic, mas malaki yung confidential fund.

Pero ano ito? Is this actually against the law?

Hindi naman. Pero hindi ito against the law. I was just very surprised. Ito yung flexibility ng local council natin na mag-allocate ng fund. But I'm just very surprised kasi ang local governments natin malawak na rin at comprehensive ang mandate in terms of providing basic services.

Kaya nung tinignan ko ito, kinumpara ako ngayon siya sa Quezon City, naisip ko ganito ba talaga yung behavior ng mga local governments? Ganito ba yung spending priorities nila?

Kasi for example sa education, malawak ang mandate ng LGU dyan. Kasama dyan yung pagkoconstruct ng mga classrooms. LGU ang umagasta primary mandate dyan. May kasama ding responsibilidad ng pagbigay ng additional support to teachers and students.

So kung ganito yung nakikita na ating pattern, medyo nakakabahala kasi iisipin mo ano ba talaga yung priority ng local government ko? Especially na napakahalaga ng role na education sa pag-address ng problema natin sa kahirapan kasi human capital yan.

Kaya medyo talagang actually na-bother ako. Kung LGU ko ito medyo hindi ako matutuwa doon sa nakita kong pattern. Alam mo kahit yung sa housing, spending on housing and community development, ganoon din ha.

2017 ang gastos nila ay P6,350,000. Yung million nalang mabanggit nito para hindi mahaba. 2018 P8,000,000. 2019 P402,000,000. So mas malaki pa rin yung confidential fund. 2020 medyo lumaki na, mas malaki na ng kaunti.

Q1. Confidential expenses pero pwede napunta rin sa budget items na binanggit niyo?

Isa pa rin yung social services and social welfare. Lahat ng items dito mas malaki yung confidential fund. Noong 2017 yung social services mo P95,000,000 lang. 2018 P187,000,000. 2019 P211,000,000. 2020 P181,000,000.

And to think dapat dito sa social services and social welfare kukuha ng assistance pang ayuda noong panahon ng pandemic. So P181,000,000, P262,000,000 noong 2021 at P304,000,000 noong 2022.

Kasi between education and confidential fund, mas malaki pa inallocate ng local government sa confidential fund kesa sa education na kailangan-kailangan natin pagigihin. Even sa housing, maraming walang pabahay. Ito ay mga batayang karapatan na dapat pinoprovide ng local governments natin.

At taga Quezon City rin ako.

So P1,100,000,000, P2022 P75,000,000. Pero pag tinignan mo yung gasto sa edukasyon ng Quezon City, umabot ito ng billion. So talagang natuwa naman ako na parang okay, hindi masamang magbayad ng tax sa Quezon City kasi priority ang education sa Quezon City.

So housing, malaki rin housing and even social services.

... Kasi ginagawang confidential expenses. Hindi mo pwedeng gawin."

So hindi siya enough to actually govern a confidential fund and it cannot limit yung information na hinihingi ng taong bayan regarding sa audit ng confidential fund.

So right now there shouldn't be a limit. Meron tayong karapatan malaman kung paano ba ginastos ang confidential expenses na ito. At ang nirecommend nila ay mag-formulate ng batas ang Congress para mas malinaw ang paglalaan ng confidential expenses at kung paano ito gagamitin.

So sa pagkakataon ito lahat ng data na ito publicly available, we can monitor, we can organize, we can make decisions, we can make decisions, we can make decisions, we can make decisions.

And we can influence how our local governments are spending the people's money.

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