'OVP should return confidential funds'
(UPDATE) THE Supreme Court on Tuesday was asked to declare as unconstitutional the transfer of P125 million in confidential funds to the office of Vice President Sara Duterte.
A petition filed by legal and economic experts led by former Finance undersecretary Maria Cielo Magno and lawyer Barry Gutierrez, the spokesman for former vice president Leni Robredo, asked the tribunal to order the return of the money to the government treasury.
«It is most respectfully prayed that this Honorable Court declare the transfer of the amount of P125 million to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as unconstitutional and that the Office of the Vice President be ordered to return the money to the government's treasury,» the petition read.
«Other reliefs that are just and equitable under the premises are likewise prayed for,» it added.
Aside from Magno and Gutierrez, the petitioners include former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Christian Monsod, former Commission on Filipinos Overseas chairman Imelda Nicolas, law professor Katrina Monsod, lawyer Ray Paolo Santiago, Honorio Poblador 3rd, former Comelec commissioner Augusto Lagman, Vicente Romano, Rex Drilon and Miguel Jugo.
The Commission on Audit earlier confirmed that the OVP spent the controversial P125-million confidential funds in 2022 in just 11 days.
The petitioners argued that the transfer of confidential funds to the OVP was a «clear usurpation of the power of Congress.» They added that the transfer of funds from the national budget to the OVP is an exercise of legislative power and that Congress decides how the budget will be spent, including on what programs or activities the money will be used.
«Verily, the appropriation done by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) is a clear usurpation of the legislative power of the Congress of the Philippines to create and fund an item that has not been done so by the Congress itself,» the petitioners said.
They maintained that the confidential funds do not fall under the funding allowed by the contingent fund and that there was no allocation for the OVP's confidential funds in the first place.
«Clearly, the transfer from the Contingency Fund of the Office of the
