Sara wants petition on fund transfer junked

The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to junk the three petitions that sought to declare as unconstitutional the transfer of P125 million by the Office of the President (OP) to the Office of the Vice President to be utilized as confidential funds last 22 December.

The petition to annul the three petitions was filed by former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, Sara’s counsel, last 10 May.

During the term of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Mendoza served as solicitor general from 1972 until 1986.

Mendoza, in a 16-page consolidated comment, argued that there is no “justiciable controversy” in the petitions that would warrant the Court’s exercise of its power of adjudication.

According to Mendoza, the petition do not allege that Duterte exercised “grave abuse of discretion, much less any discretion” in the release of the Contingent Funds for use as confidential funds of the OVP.

Mendoza pointed out, “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.”