Sara Duterte urges House to also check Marcos’ confi funds

Vice President Sara Duterte has dared members of the House of Representatives to also investigate the Office of the President (OP) which has been found by state auditors as the top confidential and intelligence fund spender for 2023.

Duterte, in a press conference on Wednesday, said that House members should not single out the probe into the Office of the Vice President (OVP) if they intend to pass laws on the use of confidential funds.

“If you are in aid of legislation and want to legislate about confidential funds, you do not target one office and terrorize and torment the employees of that office. What you do is you do a sampling, a random sampling of the offices who have confidential funds,” she said.

“Why not call the Office of the President who has billions and billions of confidential funds if you want to legislate about the confidential funds? So that shows that they’re singling out the Office of the Vice President. And I really feel that it’s very disrespectful to the Office of the Vice President,” she added.

Based on the Commission on Audit (COA) Annual Financial Report, the OP under President Ferdinand Marcos “Bongbong” Jr. remained to post the highest amount of confidential expenses, maintaining the same level as last year.

The OP spent P2.25 billion and P2.31 billion on confidential and intelligence funds, respectively, in 2023, totalling to P4.56 billion.

Lawmakers, for their part, said that this was justified as the President has a job and obligation, as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to address concerns on national security.

House members on Wednesday also filed measures requiring disclosure of audit findings on confidential funds once flagged by state auditors as well as bills limiting the allocation and disbursement of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).

This came following the inquiry on the disbursement of P612 million worth of confidential funds by the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte's term as Education Secretary.

According to Duterte, she is not being evasive on the questions regarding her offices’ confidential fund use, but she is not answering simply because the topic “pertains to national security and the lives of the people involved in intelligence operations.”

“In fact, two quarters of the Department of Education are already cleared by the Commission and Audit, but it is still being questioned inside the committee in the House of Representatives. So that is the reason why I am not answering questions from the House of Representatives, plus the fact that, as I said, it is an attack. It is a political attack,” she said.

The Vice President also called on members of the House, led by Speaker Martin Romualdez who is a cousin of the President, to respect the OVP.

“Respect begets respect. So if they want respect, they should first respect the Office of the Vice President. That is what I was saying if they don't like me, they don't like my version, they don't like Sara Duterte, but they have to respect the Office of the Vice President. So if they want to investigate confidential funds, they don't single out one office,” she continued.

Duterte is currently facing two impeachment complaints in the House of Representatives.

The first of which was submitted by advocacy groups on the grounds of alleged corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes. This complaint was endorsed by Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña.

The second impeachment complaint was filed by more than 70 representatives from various sectors, anchored on alleged betrayal of public trust in connection with alleged misuse of confidential funds. It was endorsed by the progressive Makabayan bloc.—AOL, GMA Integrated News