MANILA – The transfer of P125-million confidential funds to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2022 was unconstitutional, according to one of the petitioners challenging the legality of the move to the Supreme Court.
ACT Teachers party-list’s Rep. France Castro said in a statement on Wednesday that the transfer was “not just theoretical but has caused millions of pesos that should have been allotted to Filipinos who are in need.”
“This illegal and unconstitutional transfer of P125 million to the Office of the Vice President for confidential funds violated all rules on the proper use of such funds,” Castro said.
Castro’s statement came after the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio urged the High Court to junk the petition against the transfer of confidential funds to the OVP.
Duterte-Carpio said “none of the petitions present has an ‘actual case or controversy’ and none of the petitioners alleged a ‘legally demandable and enforceable right’ which calls for the exercise of ‘Judicial Power’.”
The Vice President also contended that the petitions filed “are mere apprehension and speculation about contingent funds or confidential funds, which does not constitute a justiciable controversy.”
Castro, however, insisted that the transfer “represents a massive redirection of public resources away from essential services and towards opaque purposes with no accountability.”
Castro and the other petitioners from the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives also urged the Supreme Court to direct the Commission on Audit (COA) to audit how the funds were spent.
Based on COA records mentioned during last year’s budget hearings at the House, the OVP spent the P125-million confidential fund in 11 days.
“The 2022 national budget did not provide a confidential fund item for OVP and there was no congressional authorization on the transfer of the fund from the President’s contingent fund,” Castro said.
“This is in clear violation of our laws. This case goes beyond just theoretical arguments about budget rules,” she added. “It is a glaring example of bureaucrat capitalism and should be stopped.”/PN
