We have only ever spoken facts about the P125 million Confidential Fund (CF) that Vice President Sara Duterte received and spent in 2022 even though this was not provided for in the national budget.
Fact number 1: There was no item of appropriation for CF for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA). This is incontrovertible and to insist that there was an item but the allocation was zero is delusional.
Fact number 2: Joint Circular 2015-01, the guideline on Confidential and Intelligence Funds, states that only agencies with “expressly provided budget allocation” in the GAA are entitled to CF. Since tbe OVP had no budget item, it had no “expressly provided budget allocation” and therefore was not entitled to Confidential Fund in 2022.
Fact number 3: Since the OVP was not entitled to a CF in 2022, the President’s transfer of P125 million to provide the Vice President with a CF using the Contingent Fund was illegal.
Discretionary lump sums such as the CF require Congressional authorization explicitly through a budget item with an expressly allocated amount. Otherwise, the Executive would have license to grant itself discretionary lumpsums at will. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin should have known that the President must comply not just with the GAA Special Provision on the Contingent Fund but also the General Provision on Confidential Funds.
Fact number 4: The Vice President spent the P125 million in 19 days. Department of Budget Management and OVP records show that she received the Confidential Fund on December 13 and reported it fully disbursed on December 31, 2022. This is an extravagant use of taxpayers’ money for an agency whose mandate has no direct involvement in national security, intelligence gathering, or law enforcement.
Since the Vice President was not entitled to CF in 2022, she should disclose how she spent every centavo of the P125 million in 19 days. The public has the right to know.
We urge the Commission on Audit to revisit its FY 2022 audit of the Office of the Vice President, specifically the transfer and use of the Confidential Fund.
At the very minimum, we expect that it will issue a disallowance and order the Vice President to return the P125 million to the public coffers.
Kailangang isauli niya ang pera ng taumbayan.
We will remain steadfast in holding the highest officials accountable for their use and misuse of public funds.