MANILA — The Office of the President approved the P125 million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President last year, which the Makabayan bloc flagged for allegedly being unauthorized under the 2022 budget, records from the budget department showed.

The latest list of Special Allotment Release Orders posted by the Department of Budget and Management posted on its website showed that the confidential fund in question was approved on November 28, 2022.

This is covered by SARO-BMB-C-22-0012004 for the amount of P221.424 million approved and released on December 13, 2022 to cover financial assistance/subsidy and confidential fund, with the Office of the President's approval.

• Makabayan bloc mulls impeachment raps vs Sara Duterte over confidential funds
• Confidential funds 'utilized appropriately,' says OVP

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro said based on the Statement of Appropriations, Allotments, Obligations, Disbursements
and Balances (SAAODB) as of Dec. 31, 2022, the Vice President's office also had P30 million allotted for financial assistance for a total of P155 million.

Of the amount, the lawmaker said the office had obligated and disbursed P155 million with around P66,424,000 remaining as unobligated allotment.

Based on the OVP's SAAODB as of June 30, 2023, the office reported P66,424,000 as contingent fund for financial assistance and subsidy.

"This implies that the whole Php 125,000,000 in Confidential Funds was already spent by Dec. 31, 2022, along with Php30,000,000 of the Financial Assistance, for a total of Php 155,000,000," Castro said.

MAKABAYAN BLOC NOT ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS?

Despite questions raised on the confidential fund, the House appropriates committee on Wednesday approved the OVP's 2024 budget. The Makabayan bloc failed to ask OVP questions before the approval.

• OVP's 2024 budget gets House panel nod with no questions asked

"The OVP had no Congressional authorization to incur confidential expenses in 2022. A full accounting should be made down to the last centavo," said Castro.

"Maraming dapat ipaliwanag sa taongbayan ang Office of the Vice President. In fact, sa kaniyang statement magpapaliwanag siya during the budget hearing at nandidito siya. Nagtataka kami bakit naging ganito yung desisyon at kami ay talagang galit na galit dito sa pangyayaring ito dahil handang-handa kami," she continued.

(The Office of the Vice President has a lot to explain to the people. In fact, she said in her statement that she will explain during the budget hearing and she was here. We are puzzled over why the decision was like this and we are angry over this incident because we were prepared for the briefing.)

Castro said the P125 million confidential fund could have been used to construct classrooms. She noted that the budget was huge compared to other agencies that are directly related to national security.

The Makabayan bloc also noted that the Office of the Vice President's confidential fund dwarfed the surveillance funds of agencies which have security in their mandate.

"Tingin ko hindi ready ang Office of the Vice President para ipaliwanag sa taongbayan saan niya ginastos itong P125 million na ito," the lawmaker said.

(I think the Office of the Vice President is not ready to explain to the people where this P125 million was spent.)

Castro said she would ask about the confidential fund during the budget briefing of Department of Education, which Duterte heads.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel said documents also showed from the Office of the Vice President's website that it used the P125 million "within 19 days."

"Mariin naming kinukundena ‘yong nangyari kanina na hindi man lang nakapagsalita kahit manifestation ang Makabayan bloc. Napakahalaga po ng issue na ito, kasi transparency ‘to at accountability ng mga namumuno sa ating bayan," said Manuel.

(We condemn the incident that happened today, wherein the Makabayan bloc could not even make a manifestation. This issue is very important because it concerns transparency and accountability from our leaders.)

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said other lawmakers might have difficulties asking about the confidential funds from other agencies.

"Dapat buwagin na yung confidential funds yan po ang panawagan natin. Tanggalin yun," Brosas said.

(Confidential funds should be scrapped.)

The Makabayan bloc earlier flagged the increasing number of agencies with confidential funds, despite their lack of a security mandate.

She said the proposed confidential funds from the National Security Council (NSC) and the Bureau of Customs were only at P120 million and P100 million, respectively.

"Even in 2022, the whole year budget of the NSC was P182 million, while the BoC was P69.5 million and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was P185.4 million," she said.

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