Solon: OVP ‘fund shift’ constitutional
The issue of the fund transfer first came when the Commission on Audit report revealed that the OVP spent P125 million in confidential funds for 2022
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The issue of the fund transfer first came when the Commission on Audit report revealed that the OVP spent P125 million in confidential funds for 2022
One of the vice chairpersons of the House Committee on Appropriations on Sunday has joined other members of the panel in clarifying that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s transfer of P125 million to the office of Vice President Sara Duterte was not unconstitutional.
Iloilo Representative Janette Garin stressed that the transfer of the Office of the President's P221.42-million fund to the Office of the Vice President — which included the P125-million confidential fund allegedly spent by in just 19 days, was sourced from Marcos' contingent fund.
"The problem was that there was confusion about contingent funds versus confidential funds. And in my opinion, that was the first mistake because the people were confused because they thought that the used contingent fund of the Office of the Vice President was confidential," Garin said in a radio interview on Sunday.
"What happened here is that the confidential fund was tainted because it was not immediately answered or clarified. Just to be factual, what the Office of the Vice President used was a contingent fund that was included in the special purpose fund," she added.
The lawmaker explained that the special purpose fund is a fund of the President that he can use for current or new programs when a Cabinet official or an office requests it.
The issue of the fund transfer first came when the Commission on Audit report revealed that the OVP spent P125 million in confidential funds for 2022.
Then-Vice President Leni Robredo, who then prepared the 2022 budget of the OVP, said there was no line item for confidential funds in the budget they crafted.
Confidential funds are used for discreet costs associated with surveillance operations carried out by civilian government agencies in support of their mandate or operations.
Lawmakers Elizaldy Co and Stella Quimbo, the panel's chair and the senior vice chair, earlier shed light on the issue, saying the transfer of the funds was allowed in the 2022 General Appropriations Act, despite opposition solons claims that it breached the law since there was no line item in the OVP's 2022 budget on confidential funds.
The Department of Budget and Management likewise defended the legality of such transfer in a letter sent to Co last week, which the latter has yet to provide a copy to the House reporters.
Co said that the P125 million released to OVP came from the P7-billion budget set aside as contingent funds for 2022 and "was intended to support the OVP's Good Governance Engagements and Social Services Projects," citing DBM chief Amenah Pangandaman.
Pangandaman, however, cleared that they did not bypass the House's power over the purse when it released contingency funds to the OVP.
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