The Supreme Court (SC) has required the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Office of the Executive Secretary, and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to answer the petition that challenged the constitutionality of the P125-million “confidential funds” transferred in November 2022 from the Office of the President (OP) to the OVP.
Aside from the alleged unconstitutionality of the transfer, the SC was also asked to order the OVP, which reportedly spent the “confidential funds” in just 11 days, to return the P125 million to the government’s treasury.
Required to comment within 10 days from receipt of the SC resolution were Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, and DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman.
The petitioners in the case were Christian S. Monsod, Ibarra M. Gutierrez III, Maria Cielo D. Magno, Imelda M. Nicolas, Katrina C. Monsod, Ray Paolo J. Santiago, Honorio A. Poblador III, Augusto C. Lagman, Vicente C. Romano III, Rex C. Drilon II, and Miguel V. Jugo.
Aside from the petition filed by Monsod and his group, another petition had been filed challenging the constitutionality of the allocation, release and disbursement of confidential funds to government departments and agencies.
The second petition also challenged the legality of the 2016 Executive Order No. 2 and Joint Circular 2015-01 which exempt the confidential funds from the people’s right of access to information.
Petitioners in the second case were led by retired SC Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, former senator Richard J. Gordon, lawyer Howard M. Calleja, and several members of the 1975 Law Class of the University of the Philippines.
Aside from Vice President Duterte, named respondents in the second petition were Executive Secretary Bersamin, the Senate led by President Juan Miguel Zubiri, the House of Representatives led by Speaker Martin G. Romualdez, officials of the Department of Education, DBM, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and others.
The first petition was tackled in the Nov. 14, 2023 full court session of the SC. The resolution requiring comment on the petition was released by the SC’s public information office (PIO) only today, Monday, Dec. 4.
It was not known immediately if the SC has taken up the second petition which, based on the Nov. 14, 2023 resolution, was not consolidated with the first case.
The first petition told the SC that on Aug. 22, 2022, Vice President Duterte requested P403.46 million for various purposes from Secretary Pangandaman. Out of the requested amount, the OVP sought P250 million as “confidential funds” although such funds were not included in the 2021 and 2022 budgets, the petitioners said.
Thereafter, they said, the DBM released P221.42 million to OVP “to cover financial assistance/subsidy and confidential fund per officer of the President approval dated Nov. 28, 2022.”
They claimed that of the P221.42 million released, P125 million was for “the non-existent” confidential funds and P96.42 million for financial assistance/subsidy.
They said the Commission on Audit (COA) then released its 2022 Audit Report of the OVP, “confirming that the office fully utilized the P125 million Confidential Fund that was transferred in December 2022, in just 11 days, even though the OVP had neither an item nor an allotment for a Confidential Expense in the 2022 GAA.”
They also said that “under the 2022 GAA, while there is a heading on ‘Confidential, Intelligence, and Extraordinary Expenses’ and a particular item with an appropriation for ‘Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses,’ there is no item, much more an appropriation, for ‘Confidential’ or ‘Intelligence’ Expenses.”
Thus, they said, “it’s clear that Congress did not intend to create any item for Confidential Expenses and the release of funds by the DBM to the OVP is a clear usurpation of the exclusive power of Congress to determine how the budget should be spent.”
They also said that the 2022 GAA provides that the contingent fund “shall cover the funding requirements of new or urgent activities or projects of national government agencies, GOCCs (government owned or controlled corporations), and LGUs (local government units) that need to be implemented or paid during the year.
“The creation of a Confidential Fund by executive fiat was not for the above-mentioned reason, and the purpose of a Contingent Fund is to precisely cover the funding requirements of new or urgent projects that need to be implemented during the year,” they said.
Thus, they alleged that “the transfer of the funds from the Contingent Fund to the OVP as Confidential Funds was not savings and the use of such appropriations is improper.”
“The Constitution absolutely prohibits transfer of appropriation— with the only exception of the augmentation of savings— which exclusively belongs to a certain class of people, the President being one of the very few exceptions,” they also alleged.