Confidential funds could have fueled blood money for drug war

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro raised serious concerns Wednesday regarding the potential misuse of intelligence and confidential funds by former President Rodrigo Duterte. 

Castro suggested that these funds may have been used as rewards for extrajudicial killings, not only in Duterte’s controversial anti-drug campaign but also against critics of his administration.

She highlighted the substantial allocations to intelligence and confidential funds in Davao during Duterte’s tenure as mayor. This continued under his daughter, now Vice President Sara Duterte, and his son, Mayor Sebastian Duterte.

“Davao intelligence funds in 2011 were P109,500,000, in 2012 P113,000,000, in 2013 P115,000,000, in 2014 P120,000,000, and in 2015 P144,000,000,” Castro stated. She noted that confidential funds for Davao City grew from P144-million in 2016 up to P2.697-billion in 2022.

Castro also mentioned that the unexplained P125-million confidential funds requested by the Office of the Vice President could have been used for similar purposes.

“From 2016 until now, VP Duterte has received about P3 billion from confidential funds but we don’t have any evidence that it was spent properly,” the lawmaker said.

Castro stressed the P2.697 billion designated as confidential funds from 2016 to 2022 for the mayor of Davao City could have been better utilized to support the education sector, particularly benefiting teachers.

She highlighted that if allocated differently, these funds could have provided a P1,000 city allowance to approximately 17,000 Davao City teachers for more than 13 years.

“This funding could have greatly contributed to improving the quality of education by ensuring that teachers had access to essential teaching materials and resources, ultimately benefiting the learning experience of countless students, at least for Davao City,” Castro said.

Castro made these comments after retired police colonel Royina Garma disclosed at a recent House Quad Committee hearing that Duterte rewarded cops for every drug suspect killed during the nationwide implementation of his war on drugs.