Lagman: President’s contingent fund can be source of aid for rice retailers

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.'s contingent fund worth P13 billion can be a source of aid for rice retailers who are expected to suffer losses due to the mandatory price ceiling Malacañang has imposed on rice, opposition lawmaker Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said on Wednesday.

In a statement, Lagman also adverted to the transfer of funds from the President's contingent fund allocation to the Office of the Vice President in 2022.

"The President’s contingent fund of P13-B in 2023 can be the source of the requisite assistance to rice retailers as subsidy to them in order to foreclose their expected losses in selling their inventories, which they procured at levels higher than the price cap imposed under Executive Order No. 39," Lagman said.

Lagman said the contingent fund was meant "to respond to unforeseen urgent and critical circumstances during the fiscal year, and it is not limited to specific occurrences and obligations."

"If the contingent fund can be utilized to grant 'confidential funds' to the Office of the Vice President in 2022 when the said office did not have any appropriated secret funds, with more reason the President’s contingent fund can be used to bail out small rice retailers," Lagman said.

Lagman issued the statement after he was asked about the propriety of Malacañang transferring P125 million of its 2022 contingent fund to the OVP. The amount was reported to have been disbursed as confidential funds by the office.

The Office of the Executive Secretary said such augmentation was authorized by the President as provided under the 2022 national budget law. 

EO 39 set the price of regular milled rice at P41 per kilo, while that of well-milled rice has been pegged at P45 per kilo amid rising rice prices due to increasing prices of imported rice.

Senate finance panel chairperson Sonny Angara, for his part, said the transfer of the funds was within the jurisdiction of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“According to the DBM, this (P125 million confidential fund) was a release from the contingent fund [of the President in the 2022 budget. [It would be] best to consult them on the details of this release,” Angara said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Last Monday, Vice President Duterte admitted that her office had requested confidential funds in August 2022 and received the allocations in December of that year.

"The amount is correct and that is correct, we requested confidential funds to the Office of the President as early as August 2022 and we were only granted the confidential funds in December 2022," Duterte said during the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on the proposed P2.385-billion budget of the OVP for 2024.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said there was a legal issue as regards the augmentation as the General Appropriations Act for 2022 didn't privide the OVP with confidential funds.

"We requested it from the Office of the President and it was granted through the Department of Budget and Management. I think the Department of Budget and Management can better answer the question on the transfer of funds from their source to the Office of the Vice President," Duterte said. —NB, GMA Integrated News