Vice President Sara Duterte has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss three petitions which challenged the constitutionality of the transfer of P125 million ‘confidential fund’ from the Office of the President to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2022.
In a consolidated comment filed for Vice President Duterte by Atty. Estelito P. Mendoza – former solicitor general, minister of justice, and Pampanga governor – the SC was told that there is no “justiciable controversy” in the petitions that would warrant the High Court’s exercise of its power of adjudication.
The comment stated that the petitions did not allege that the Vice President exercised “grave abuse of discretion, much less any discretion” in the release of the Contingent Funds for use as confidential funds of the OVP.
“Indeed, the mandate of the Honorable Court does not include the duty to answer all of life’s questions. No question, no matter how interesting or compelling, can be answered by this Court if it cannot be shown that there is an ‘actual and antagonistic assertion of rights by one party against the other in a controversy wherein judicial intervention is unavoidable,” it stated.
It also stated that the allegations of the petitioners do not show actual controversy involving rights, which are legally demandable and enforceable as required by the Constitution.
At the same time, the comment pointed out that the petitions failed to show that they will suffer or have suffered any concrete injury resulting from the alleged act committed.
It stressed that the petitioners in the three cases merely made a blanket allegation that they are taxpayers or concerned citizens but without the constitutional requirement of justiciability.
The petitions challenged the constitutionality of the P125 million “confidential funds” transferred in November 2022 from the contingency fund of the OP to OVP.
One of the petitions asked the SC to order the OVP to return the P125 million to the government’s treasury.
The first petition was filed by 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.
After the petition filed by Monsod and his group, another group – 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 – filed a petition which challenged the constitutionality of the allocation, release and disbursement of confidential funds to government departments and agencies.
Carpio and his group’s 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. The SC has not acted on the petition.
The third petition was filed by Bayan Muna Chairman Neri Colmenares, and former Bayan Muna Reps. Carlos Zarate, Ferdie Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat. Makabayan representatives led by ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro.
Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, Vice President Duterte, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, and Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba.
One of the petitions claimed that the P125 Million to OVP as ‘confidential fund’ is unconstitutional because there was no congressional appropriation for the OVP in the 2022 Government Appropriations Act (GAA) in violation of Section 1, Article VI of the Constitution.
It claimed that Section 1, Article VI of the constitution declares that “the legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines.” Thus, it said, the Executive department is not authorized to pass its own budget outside of the appropriations law.
At the same time, one of the petitions alleged that “the request, receipt, and use by Vice President Duterte of the confidential funds in 2022 without congressional authorization, also violated Section 29(1) of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution.”
Section 29(1) states that “no money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law,” it said.