​KARAPATAN: Sara Duterte must be held accountable for using DepEd confidential funds to bankroll counterinsurgency

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

PRESS RELEASE

06 August 2026

Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general,  09173162831

KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580

KARAPATAN: Sara Duterte must be held accountable for using DepEd confidential funds to bankroll counterinsurgency

KARAPATAN said Sara Duterte must be held fully accountable for the misuse of ₱612.5 million confidential funds at the Office of Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) for counterinsurgency-related activities, including the reported surveillance and background checks on DepEd’s teachers and learners.

The disclosures made during Duterte's impeachment trial reveal not only the corrupt misuse of public funds but also the weaponization of government resources to attack the democratic rights of teachers, youth and the Filipino people. Instead of strengthening an already underfunded education system, millions of pesos were diverted to programs associated with counterinsurgency, surveillance, and intelligence operations.

"Duterte’s use of confidential funds for counterinsurgency is a direct assault on the people's rights. At a time when students continue to endure overcrowded classrooms, inadequate learning facilities, shortages of teachers and learning materials, and soaring education costs, public funds were allegedly squandered on programs that facilitate surveillance, profiling, and red-tagging," Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general said.

The human rights alliance stressed that the Department of Education has no mandate to conduct counterinsurgency activities. Yet documentary evidence presented before the Senate impeachment court showed that confidential funds were reportedly allocated to counterinsurgency, anti-terrorism and extremism programs, and background checks on teachers and learners.

"Schools should be safe spaces for learning and critical thinking, not extensions of the state's counterinsurgency apparatus. Teachers and students should never be treated as security threats simply for exercising their rights to organize, speak out, and participate in public affairs," Palabay added.

The group said the revelations further expose the dangers of the government's so-called "whole-of-nation approach," which has long blurred the distinction between civilian governance and military operations. Under this framework, civilian institutions have increasingly been drawn into intelligence gathering, surveillance, and red-tagging, creating conditions that enable arbitrary arrests, harassment, and other human rights violations.

KARAPATAN emphasized that the misuse of DepEd confidential funds is symptomatic of a broader system that allows Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIFs) to be spent with minimal public scrutiny and accountability.

"Time and again, confidential and intelligence funds have become ready pools for corruption and abuse. Cloaked in secrecy, these funds have repeatedly financed programs that undermine civil liberties instead of addressing the urgent needs of the Filipino people. Sara Duterte's case demonstrates exactly why these discretionary funds are vulnerable to misuse," said Palabay.

KARAPATAN reiterated its long-standing call for the abolition of Confidential and Intelligence Funds in all civilian agencies, and ultimately across government, regardless of who sits in power.

"Whether under the Marcos Jr. administration or any future government, confidential and intelligence funds should be abolished for good. Public funds must never be hidden behind secrecy to bankroll counterinsurgency, political repression, or corruption," Palabay said.

The group likewise renewed its opposition to the continued expansion of confidential and intelligence funds in the national budget, warning that billions of pesos continue to be allocated to discretionary funds while essential social services remain grossly underfunded.

"Every peso spent on surveillance is a peso taken away from classrooms, hospitals, social services, and other programs that genuinely uplift the lives of the Filipino people. Public funds should finance quality education, decent teachers' salaries, accessible healthcare, and social services, not intelligence operations that target the people already reeling in crisis," explained Palabay.

KARAPATAN said the evidence presented at the impeachment trial further strengthens the case for Sara Duterte's conviction and underscores the urgent need to change a system that perpetuates attacks against the people.

"Holding Sara Duterte accountable is only the first step. Equally urgent is dismantling the system that allows confidential and intelligence funds to be abused with impunity. The abolition of these funds is necessary to end their use as instruments of corruption, patronage, counterinsurgency, and attacks on the people's rights," the group said.

"Public funds belong in classrooms, hospitals, and communities, not in secret funds that finance surveillance, red-tagging, and repression. The Filipino people deserve a government that invests in human rights and social services, not one that weaponizes public resources against its own citizens," Palabay ended.

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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.  It was established in 1995.