Challenge accepted.

Atty. Barry Gutierrez, ex-spokesman of former Vice-President Leni Robredo, said a group of petitioners will file a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court questioning the transfer of millions of pesos in confidential funds to the Office of the Vice-President last year.

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

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

"Maraming humahamon sa amin nung unang pinag-uusapan ang issue na ito. 'Magsampa kayo ng kaso.' Heto na, magsasampa na ng kaso para makaroon ng pagkalinaw itong isyu ng confidential funds," he said.

Gutierrez said the petition will not seek an explanation on how the OVP liquidated the funds, after a lawmaker revealed the P125 million was spent in just 11 days.

• OVP spent 2022 confidential funds in 11 days, says lawmaker; COA seeks more explanation

Instead, the petition seeks to clarify if the OP was authorized to make the transfer of funds to the Office of the Vice-President.

"Sa petition namin ay 'yung paglilipat dahil ang batayan namin ay Constitution. So ang una naming tanong, mayroon bang kapangyarihan o tama ba na bigyan sila ng P125 million in confidential funds kahit na sa [General Appropriations Act] ng 2022 wala namang item ng confidential funds sa OVP," he said.

He noted that the money should be returned to the National Treasury if the fund transfer was unauthorized.

Gutierrez said other groups have signified their intentions on filing similar cases.

House Appropriations Committee Senior Vice Chair Stella Quimbo earlier explained 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.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling, Quimbo then pointed out that the use of the contingent fund has little limitations.

"Dahil nga po di na nga po ma-anticipate, lahat po ng pangangailangan ng ating gobyerno 2 years in advance kaya nilalagay sa special purpose funds sa DBM at hinihingi na lang ahensya sa DBM ang kanilang pangangailangan in case na merong new or urgent project or activities," she said.

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