Vice President Sara Duterte's office spent P125 million in confidential funds in merely 11 days in 2022 — not 19 days — as initially claimed by some opposition lawmakers.

The revelation was made by Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo during the sponsorship debate for the P13.36-billion budget of the Commission on Audit for 2024.

Quimbo said she was surprised when she learned that the P125 million confidential fund was spent within 19 days, thus she asked the CoA and looked at the various reports. "It was not spent in 19 days, but 11," she pointed out.

The P125 million was part of the P221.42-million contingency fund of the Office of the President that was transferred to the OVP in 2022.

Confidential funds are costs associated with operations carried out by civilian government agencies that require secrecy. They are the equivalent of intelligence funds for the uniformed and allied services.

The OVP submitted its liquidation report in January 2023 and was issued an audit observation memorandum, or AOM, on 18 September 2023 by state auditors, said Quimbo, citing the CoA. Government agencies have only 15 days to respond to an AOM.

The CoA, meanwhile, pledged that Congress will be furnished a copy of the full report on 15 November 2023 as the audit is still ongoing.

OVP spokesperson Reynold Munsayac told reporters the office has yet to receive the AOM from CoA.

The transfer of the multi-million-peso fund  from the OP to the OVP has sparked intense debate in Congress, with the opposition claiming it was unconstitutional since there was no line item in the OVP's 2022 budget on confidential funds in the 2022 General Appropriations Act.

Former vice president Leni Robredo, who prepared the 2022 budget of the OVP, said there was no line item for confidential funds in the budget she and her staff crafted.

The Department of Budget and Management had defended the legality of the transfer in a letter to Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, chair of the House Committee on Appropriations.