House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro on Friday said Vice President Sara Duterte may have committed “multiple violations for using P125 million in confidential funds in 2022 “when there was no congressional authorization for confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for that fiscal year.”
Castro said in the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the OVP has no appropriation for confidential expenses. She noted that the 2022 GAA was prepared and proposed by then President Rodrigo Duterte and enacted by Congress in 2021.
“The Vice-President at the time, Leni Robredo, did not ask for and consequently was not given any confidential funds for her office for fiscal year 2022. VP Duterte began her term on June 30, 2022.
“However, according to the OVP 2022 annual audit report released by the Commission on Audit (COA), particularly on page 38 of the Notes to Financial Statement, there was an additional allotment for confidential expense during the second semester of CY 2022 amounting to P125 million. It is also reflected under ‘Supporting Information to the Statement of Financial Performance’ found on page 20 of the same document,” Castro said.
As of press time, the office of the Vice President has yet to respond to Castro’s statements.
Castro said Duterte, who also serves as Department of Education Secretary, could have committed the following violations:
• First, is a violation of the Constitution Article 6 Section 29 (1) No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law.
• Second, technical malversation and illegal use of public funds under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code;
• Third, misuse of government funds and property under Section 80 Chapter 7, Book 6 Executive Order 292 of the Administrative Code and illegal expenditures under Section 43 Chapter 5 on the General Provision of the General Appropriations Act the punishment for this would be to return the funds, dismissal from office as well as disqualification from public office;
• Fourth, causing undue injury to a party under RA 3019 Section 3e or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act;
• Fifth, at the very least grave or simple misconduct or conduct prejudicial to service which is just an administrative case if there is not enough evidence.
Castro said there may also be violations of the Supreme Court ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) if savings were used to fund this P125 million confidential fund.
“At any rate, Malacanang may have used some ‘budget magic’ to give P125 million to the OVP in 2022 even if there is no budget item for it. What is clear though is that the Office of the President and the Department of Budget Management (DBM) allowed this and they must explain this and also be held to account,” she said.
Castro also said the 2024 National Expenditure Program reports that the P125 million was actually obligated by the OVP for confidential expenses in 2022.
“The Vice President needs to explain how she could incur obligations amounting to P125 million in confidential expenses in the last six months of 2022 despite the fact that her office has no Congressional authorization to do so for that year,” Castro said.
“Without such authorization, the strict rule prohibiting public disclosure of the use of confidential funds does not apply in this case. Therefore, we ask that the OVP provide a detailed public accounting of how the P125 million was spent,” she added.
Castro stressed “If proven that indeed the OVP used public funds channeled to a non-existent line item or comingled it with other line items then she can be held liable for a number of cases.”
