Duterte gives up OVP confidential fund

VICE President Sara Duterte has given up her office’s request for a P500-million confidential fund (CF) to end the divisiveness it has generated.

Duterte on Thursday attended the Senate plenary debate for the proposed 2024 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

The House of Representatives had slashed the OVP’s original budget of P2.378 billion to P1.874 billion, realigning the P500 million intended for the confidential fund to agencies involved in securing national defense.

NO MORE Vice President Sara Duterte is all smiles as she attends a Senate hearing on her office’s proposed 2024 budget, which includes the controversial confidential funds, on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. Duterte, however, through her spokesman Michael Poa, said she was giving up the fund because it was a ‘divisive’ issue. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN 

Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Senate Committee on Finance chairman, said Duterte has informed him of the OVP’s decision to forgo its CF for 2024.

“They will no longer pursue the CIF or CF, and the reason why is because it seems to be divisive, and as the VP swore an oath to keep the country peaceful and strong,” Angara said.

After clarificatory questioning from Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd and Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros, the Senate approved the OVP’s budget.

Duterte made known her decision to forgo the controversial fund through her Department of Education spokesman, Michael Poa.

Poa said in Filipino that the OVP has repeatedly said it could only propose an appropriate budget for the “smooth implementation of projects against poverty and programs that will promote the welfare of every Filipino family.”

“But nevertheless, the Office of the President will no longer pursue the original request for confidential funds,” he said.

“Why? Because we really saw the tendency that this issue will become divisive,” he said.

Also on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel 3rd said he might challenge before the Supreme Court the legality of granting an intelligence fund (IF) to the Office of the President (OP), being a civilian agency.

Pimentel questioned the OP’s P2.3-billion IF as the Senate debated in plenary the proposed P10.4 billion budget for 2024.

Pimentel said he has no “issue in the grant of confidential fund to the Office of the President, a civilian government agency with multifaceted operations, responsibilities and tasks.”

“My problem is with the intelligence expenses because our own governing document defined this as referred to those related to intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel and intelligence practitioners,” he said.

Pimentel said he doesn’t think the OP is composed of “intelligence practitioners.”

“Kung meron tayong mga (If we have) activists lawyers listening to us, maybe a case can be filed with the Supreme Court to test the legality of the grant of an intel fund to the Office of the President being a civilian agency,” he said.

Pimentel asked Angara, who sponsors the OP budget, why the OP requested over P2 billion in intelligence funds.

“That is the amount that has been set for the last four years since 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and now for 2024,” Angara replied.

The President “is both the user and generator of a confidential and intelligence information, and as a commander in chief [of the Armed Forces of the Philippines], he needs to make very crucial decision so the importance of information cannot be understated,” he said.

Sen. Francis Tolentino has urged the Senate to craft a law that would clarify, set guidelines and parameters concerning confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).

Tolentino said the Senate must amend Joint Circular 2015-01 issued by the Commission on Audit (CoA) and other executive offices providing the guidelines on the entitlement, release, use, reporting and audit of CIFs.

“We (legislators) should be the ones doing the guidelines and parameters,” he said.

“All the things that we are discussing about confidential funds will be fixed if we enact the spirit of the constitutional provision I mentioned a while ago,” Pimentel said. “Otherwise, we will be continuously delegating our legislative function to an inter-agency committee, which would, if time passes by, be considered as abdication of our legislative function.”