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Senate must enact law for CIF: Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino urges the Senate to legislate a law that would clarify, set guidelines and parameters concerning confidential and intelligence funds (CIF). During the budget deliberation on Thursday, November 9, 2023 on the proposed 2024 budget of the Office of the President, Tolentino said the Senate must amend Joint Circular 2015-01 issued by the Commission on Audit and other executive offices. “Perhaps if the intention is really to question the content of this (Joint Circular 2015-01), a legislation should be made. We (Congress) should be the one doing the guidelines and parameters. Perhaps it is about time that we pursue legislation, giving flesh and muscles to the provision of Section 28, Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution, defining the reasonable condition prescribed by law,” Tolentino said. “All the things that we are discussing about confidential funds will be fixed if we enact the spirit of the constitutional provision I mentioned a while ago. Otherwise, we will be continuously delegating our legislative function to an inter-agency committee which would, if time passes by, be considered as abdication of our legislative function,” he pointed out. Joint Circular 2015-01 provides for the guidelines on the entitlement, release, use, reporting and audit of CIF. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)