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Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said she welcomes the opportunity to discuss the legalities of the transfer of millions of pesos in confidential funds to the Office of the Vice-President last year.

This, after a group of petitioners said they will ask the Supreme Court to rule on the said transfer of funds.

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

(We welcome the opportunity to discuss the legalities of the fund transfer. We expect that the wisdom of the Supreme Court will pave the way for this issue to finally be laid to rest.)

Among those who will file the petition are Atty. Barry Gutierrez, former Comelec officials Christian Monsod and Gus Lagman, ex-finance undersecretary Cielo Magno, and several others.

• Challenge accepted: SC urged to rule on OVP confidential funds

Speaking to TeleRadyo Serbisyo, Gutierrez said the petition is the fruit of months of debate over the transfer of P125 million in confidential funds from the Office of the President to the Office of the Vice President, which the Makabayan bloc flagged for allegedly being unauthorized under the 2022 budget.

• Palace approved Duterte office's P125-M confidential funds in 2022: DBM records

House Appropriations Committee Senior Vice Chair Stella Quimbo earlier said the transfer of funds was legal because it was sourced from the contingent fund.

She said that what happened was not a transfer, but an actual use of the contingent fund for expenses that were not anticipated during budget preparation.

• 'Di ko kailangan ng paliwanag': OVP confidential fund sparks debate between lawmakers