SC urged to annul rules on non-disclosure of CIFs

RETIRED Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and a group of legal experts yesterday questioning before the Supreme Court (SC) the constitutionality of a joint memorandum circular and executive order that laid down the guidelines on the release, use, reporting, and audit of the executive’s confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs).

The petition for certiorari and mandamus urged the High Court to declare as null and void Joint Circular No.2015-01 and Executive Order No.2, Series of 2016, or the Freedom of Information order, signed by former President Duterte.

The plea likewise called for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the continued implementation of the circular and executive order.

The petitioners include Carpio, former senator Richard Gordon, lawyer Howard Calleja, members of the University of the Philippines College of Law Batch 1975, law students, and several priests.

Named respondents in the petition were Vice President Sara Duterte, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) chairperson Marius Corpus, and Commission on Audit (COA) chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba.

This is the second petition filed before the High Court in relation to the CIFs.

Last week, a group of lawyers led by Barry Gutierrez and Christian Monsod asked the SC to declare as unconstitutional the transfer of P125 million in confidential funds from the Office of the President (OP) to the Office of Vice President Duterte (OVP) in 2022.

The petitioners also asked the court to order Duterte’s office to return the amount to the National Treasury.

USE, AUDITING AND REPORTING RULES

Joint Circular No. 2015-01 was issued on January 8, 2015. It contains guidelines on the entitlement, release, use, reporting, and audit of CIFs. It was prepared by the Commission on Audit, in consultation with the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM), of National Defense (DND), and of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Governance Commission for GOCCs.

On the other hand, Executive Order No. 02, Series of 2016, is the operationalizes the