DOJ seeks more confidential funds in 2027 budget, cites 'more challenges'

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies are seeking higher confidential funds for their operations in 2027, it was disclosed during the Senate budget hearing on Thursday.

The DOJ has a P579.4 million budget for confidential funds, which is 47.3% lower than 2026's P1.1 billion budget.

Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida has sought the restoration of P500 million to the Office of the Secretary, noting that only P319.9 million was allocated under the NEP.

“Sa Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, napapansin po namin sa inter-agency na ang P10 million ay kulang at talaga kailangan pa naming dagdagan dahil may dagdag pong hamon,” Vida said.

(For the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, we have observed that the P10 million allocation is insufficient, and we really need to increase it because we are facing additional challenges.)

He also hoped that Congress would grant DOJ’s budget of P475,000 to combat emerging cybercrime and P5 million for the National Coordination Center Against Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (NCC-OSAEC-CSAEM).

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Joel Viado also sought an additional P10 million to P20 million for his agency’s 2027 confidential funds.

He said the additional budget would help the agency in hiring more personnel.

“Nagre-request kami sa DBM ng additional positions. Ang aming fugitive search unit, ang humahabol o tumutugis sa mga pugante, wala pang 20 ’yan (nationwide),” Viado said.

(We are requesting additional positions from the Department of Budget and Management. Our Fugitive Search Unit, which tracks down and apprehends fugitives, has fewer than 20 personnel.)

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is seeking a P1 billion budget for its confidential funds since the agency is planning to procure equipment to combat cybercrime.

“We are requesting sana about P1 billion divided into 12 months. Because more than the expenses on operations namin, we are intending to procure tools and equipment to fight cybercrime,” NBI Director Melvin Matibag said.

He shared that during its meetings with the United States Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), the NBI found that many scams are linked to the Philippines.

“Nire-request naming increase sana dito for the confidential funds is for us to procure these tools to fight ang ganito mga criminal activities,” Matibag said.

(We are requesting an increase in the confidential funds so we can procure the necessary tools to combat these types of criminal activities.)

He added that since April, the NBI has been conducting around 200 to 220 investigative operations.

The BI and NBI are attached agencies under the Justice Dept.

For 2027, the DOJ proposed a budget of P46.435 billion, which is equivalent to 0.64% of the P7.2-trillion national budget.

Of DOJ’s total proposed budget, P31.723 billion (68.32%) was allotted for Personnel Services (PS), P11.340 billion (24.42%) for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), and P3.372 billion (7.26%) for Capital Outlay (CO). —RF, GMA News