Tough-talking Duterte still hasn’t fully explained OVP’s 2022 confidential
funds
S E P 11 , 2 0 2 3 9 : 1 8 P M P H T
BEA CUPIN
INFO
It remains unclear, for instance, why the Office of the Vice President's satellite offices required
confidential funds in 2022
MANILA, Philippines – After hurdling two budget panels in the House and the Senate, and
after a long thank-you letter to her allies in the executive and the legislative, Vice President
Sara Duterte has yet to explain basic questions over the transfer of P125 million for
confidential funds from the Office of the President (OP) to her office in 2022.
Instead, Duterte has resorted mostly to blanket denials and clap backs against two particular
critics: ACT Teachers Representative France Castro and Senator Risa Hontiveros – two
women legislators in a Congress dominated by allies of Duterte.
“These efforts are genuinely appreciated because they help counter the lies told
by [Representative] France Castro and the Makabayan bloc in Congress on the 2022 OVP CF
(Office of the Vice President confidential funds). Senator Risa Hontiveros, while she amuses
the nation with her flair for drama, could only wish the 2022 OVP CF was accessed illegally,”
Duterte said in a statement that thanked allies for explaining the fund but offered little
explanation on the fund itself.
“Trabaho lang, walang drama. Akala ko ba, VP Sara, the OVP can live without
confidential funds? Bakit parang pinapawisan na yata kayo diyan, budget hearing pa
lang?” said Hontiveros in response to Duterte.
(No drama, just work. I thought you said the OVP can live without confidential funds? Why do
you seem so nervous, when this is just a budget hearing?)
Duterte has not specifically addressed criticism and issues raised by former Senate president
Franklin Drilon and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
In a chat group with communications officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP),
reporters have repeatedly requested additional details on the OVP’s 2022 spending, particularly
explanations on the 2022 confidential funds of the Vice President. The OVP has yet to
respond.
For instance, it’s unclear why and how the confidential funds were used for the OVP’s satellite
offices. Media queries have yet to be answered as of this posting.
MUST READ
Why transfer of P125-M confidential funds to OVP sets dangerous
precedent
Confidential funds are supposed to be used for “surveillance activities in civilian government
agencies that are intended to support the mandate or operations of the said agency.”
Confidential funds under the OVP?
According to a Commission on Audit Report (COA), the OVP under Duterte spent P125
million in confidential funds in 2022 – a fiscal year that was split between her and her
predecessor, former vice president Leni Robredo.
The revelation was controversial because Robredo – unlike Vice President Duterte’s father
former president Rodrigo Duterte, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and the incumbent Vice
President – had never asked for confidential funds. The 2022 General Appropriations Act
(GAA), or the law that states the national government’s provisions for a given year, does not
contain a line item for confidential funds under the OVP.
It’s taken a whole group of government officials to defend the OVP’s apparent 2022
confidential fund.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, in a statement on September 5, justified the OP’s
decision to release P221 million for financial assistance/subsidy and confidential funds to the
OVP, citing Special Provision No. 1 under FY 2022 Contingent Fund.
Bersamin, former chief justice, claimed the provision allowed the President to approve fund
releases to cover “new and urgent” activities of government agencies.
“VP Sara, who was newly elected then, needed funds for her new programs for the remaining
period of 2022. The President supported this initiative and released the funds, with the
favorable recommendation of [the Department of Budget and Management],” said Bersamin.
Bersamin offered no other details. Duterte, in her latest September 11 statement, thanked the
Little President “for a detailed presentation of facts about the 2022 OVP CF and elucidating
that the request, approval, and spending of the fund violated no law, which is diametrically
adverse to what critics have been repeatedly harping.”
She also thanked Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, a losing senatorial bet under their 2022
coalition, for defending the creation of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group and
“rebuking” those who supposedly were “against institutions tasked to ensure peace and
security.”
The Vice President also thanked Marikina 2nd District Representative and House
appropriations senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo for “bravely and rationally facing a gang
of individuals who had successfully mastered the art of fabricating lies.”
Quimbo, in an ANC interview, said the transfer was allowed because, supposedly, the item on
confidential and intelligence funds already existed in 2022 or under the last budget prepared by
the OVP under Robredo.
“It just so happened that the amount was zero. You can actually augment an item because the
item already existed,” said Quimbo.
“Confidential, Intelligence, and Extraordinary Expenses” is a heading under the 2022 budget of
the OVP, but there is no line item specifically for confidential and intelligence funds.
Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses for that year were allocated P620,000. The
subsequent budget proposals for 2023 and 2024, and the eventual GAA for 2023, include line
items for confidential expenses and intelligence expenses.
‘Dirty imagination‘
In her September 11 statement, Duterte taunted both Hontiveros and Castro for supposedly not
being able to “produce any proof to support their dirty imagination.”
“The indignity they have caused Congress and the Senate should be enough for us not to give
them serious attention,” said Duterte, who had breezed through House and Senate panels on the
OVP budget because of “parliamentary courtesy .”
For 2024, the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte also heads, want
over P650 million in confidential and intelligence funds , known collectively as the CIF.
Duterte also replied to the September 11 statement released by Castro that questioned the
legality of the OP to OVP transfer and Duterte’s supposed “extravagant use of taxpayers’
money” in disbursing P125 million within 19 days.
The Vice President dismissed the lawmaker’s points as mere “assumptions,” “a legal opinion
of Ms Castro, who is not a lawyer,” “a personal conclusion,” “an opinion,” “Ms Castro
insisting on what she wants, even if it is wrong,” and a “finding of Ms Castro who is not an
auditor.”
Yet the response itself did not say why Castro was wrong.
A budget expert earlier flagged the 2022 OVP confidential fund as a “dangerous precedent ,”
meaning interagency transfers could be abused, especially by officials close to a sitting
president. – Rappler.com
