OP to OVP transfer of confidential funds ‘unconstitutional’

MANILA, Philippines — Unconstitutional.

This was how the leader of the opposition Liberal Party described the transfer of confidential and intelligence funds in 2022 from the Office of the President (OP) to the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

“It is unconstitutional for any transfer of funds from the OP to another office like the OVP,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman insisted, invoking Section 25(5) of Article 6 of the 1987 Constitution.

Lagman said such a transfer is only allowed to “constitutional officers like the President relative to savings for augmentation of any deficient allocation” in their respective offices.

“Transfer for augmentation must be from savings of the office concerned. It was admitted that in the President’s contingent fund, the savings in 2022 was only P50 million but the release to the OVP was P125 million,” Lagman said.

“In other words, it was not from savings. Moreover, the OP, through its sponsor, repeatedly said that the release of the amount was not from savings,” he said.

Lagman said there was nothing to be augmented because the OVP had zero appropriation for confidential funds in 2022.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros again criticized the OVP after it was confirmed that Duterte spent P125 million in confidential in 11 days, not 19 as previously reported.

“What kind of magic is there that they used up P125 million in 11 days in a spending spree?” Hontiveros said in a statement.

She said the Vice President’s spending spree equates to P11-million secret funds used up a day.

“While the OVP spent P125-million confidential funds within 11 days in December 2022, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has a total P118.7-million confidential and intelligence fund allocated to it from 2006 to 2023,” Hontvieros said, citing a statement of PCG spokesman for West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela.

“What can VP Sara show for it? Did she mass-hire thousands of informants in a span of 11 days? Did they build hundreds of safehouses in just 11 days?” Hontiveros said.

“The question remains: Where did you spend the money? The nation is waiting for your receipts,” she added.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III lauded the Department of Foreign Affairs during the budget deliberations yesterday after DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo said the agency has not requested any secret funds.

Pimentel urged other civilian government agencies to emulate the DFA.

“The DFA, under Secretary Manalo, is a model of fiscal integrity. I hope I could say the same for the other agencies within the executive branch,” Pimentel said.

Skipped?

For still unknown reasons, House lawmakers skipped yesterday’s supposed deliberations on the proposed  budget of the OVP a day after it was revealed that she spent P125 million in intelligence funds in just 11 days.

No one among the House officials explained why the budget scrutiny in the plenary for the OVP was canceled or reset. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Emmanuel Tupas