Petitioners ask SC to declare ₱125-M transfer for OVP’s confidential funds unconstitutional

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 7) — A group of lawyers, constitutional experts, and economists filed a petition before the Supreme Court to declare the transfer of ₱125 million confidential funds to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2022 as unconstitutional.

In its 49-page petition submitted on Tuesday, the group also asked the high court to order the OVP to return the money to the Treasury.

Former vice presidential spokesman and lawyer Barry Gutierrez, 1987 Constitution framer Christian Monsod, former Commission on Elections Commissioner Augusto Lagman, and former Department of Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno were among the 11 petitioners. Ray Paolo Santiago, the Ateneo Human Rights Center executive director and also a petitioner, served as the lead counsel.

«The question of appropriation is important because these funds are the people’s money—and therefore, it is proper that the appropriation and use of the people’s money be properly accounted for,» the petitioners said.

In response, Vice President Sara Duterte said the OVP welcomes the chance to discuss the legality of the transfer of funds.

«Malugod po naming tinatanggap ang pagkakataong talakayin ang legalidad ng paglilipat ng pondo,» Duterte said in a video statement. «Umaasa kami na ang dunong ng Korte Suprema ay magiging daan upang tuluyang matapos ang usapin na ito.»

[Translation: We welcome the chance to discuss the legality of the fund transfer. We hope that the Supreme Court's wisdom will lead us to the end of this issue.]

The petition

During the 2024 budget hearing of the Commission on Audit (COA) in August, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro said Duterte spent ₱125 million in confidential funds in 2022 even if the OVP was not given an allocation for such funds under that year's General Appropriations Act (GAA).

In filing a petition for certiorari, the petitioners argued that the controversial transfer was not a hypothetical situation and that it involved a transfer of funds from the Office of the President (OP) to the OVP to an inexistent item in the 2022 GAA.

«In clear violation of this intent by the Congress of the Philippines not to create an item on