Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday slammed critics in Congress who questioned the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential bills in 2022 even when such merchandise was not offered beneath final yr’s General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Duterte particularly talked about Senator Risa Hontiveros, House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers party-list, and the Makabayan bloc, who all inquired concerning the switch of funds allocations in 2022 to OVP’s confidential funds (CF).
“Senator Risa Hontiveros, while she amuses the nation with her flair for drama, could only wish the 2022 OVP CF was accessed illegally,” the Vice President stated.
“It’s a shame they still cannot produce any proof to support their dirty imagination. The indignity they have caused Congress and the Senate should be enough for us not to give them serious attention,” she added.
During the Senate Committee on Finance’s deliberations on the proposed P2.385-billion funds of the OVP for 2024, Duterte admitted that the OVP requested confidential funds in August 2022 and acquired the allocations in December that yr.
The Office of the Executive Secretary (OES) defended such, saying that the Office of the President had permitted the discharge of P221.424 million to the OVP in 2022, upon the latter’s request.
Of the quantity, the OVP liquidated P125 million as confidential funds.
Duterte thus thanked President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and Marikina Representative Stella Quimbo for standing by the OVP amid the problem.
“Thank you to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin for a detailed presentation of facts about the 2022 OVP CF and elucidating that the request, approval, and spending of the fund violated no law, which is diametrically adverse to what critics have been repeatedly harping,” she stated.
According to the OES, the President is allowed to approve the releases pursuant to Special Provision No. 1 beneath Fiscal Year 2022 Contingent Fund.
“VP Sara, who was newly elected then, needed funds for her new programs for the remaining period of 2022. The President supported this initiative and released the funds, with the favorable recommendation of DBM,” it stated.
The OES stated that the quantity was for the next Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses: a) Financial Assistance/Subsidy – P96.424 million, and b) Confidential Funds (for newly created satellite tv for pc workplaces) – P125.0 million, chargeable towards the FY 2022 Contingent Fund.
For 2024, the OVP is asking for P500 million in confidential and intelligence funds. The OVP was additionally granted the identical quantity for confidential bills beneath the 2023 nationwide funds.
On September 4, Hontiveros questioned the switch of allocations in 2022 to confidential funds that did not exist that yr within the Office of the Vice President.
“Kung totoo at tama ang mga napabalitang report, dapat may managot sa unauthorized at malinaw na iligal na pagtransfer ng pondo papunta sa Office of the Vice President (OVP) noong 2022,” Hontiveros stated.
(If the report is true, somebody ought to be held accountable for the unauthorized and clearly unlawful switch of funds to the Office of the Vice President in 2022.)
Castro alternatively on September 5 requested why there have been billions of secret funds when many objects want funding reminiscent of monetary assist, free training, medical help, and inexpensive housing.
House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas of the Makabayan bloc in the meantime stated the Office of the President’s refusal, and likewise the OVP’s, to undergo public deliberations about their budgets particularly with regard to their confidential and intelligence funds is likely one of the growing the reason why their ‘black funds’ shouldn’t be permitted however abolished as an alternative.
Kabataan party-list lawmaker Raoul Manuel, additionally a part of the Makabayan bloc, alternatively, stated that the OP is accountable for the discharge of P125-million confidential fund to the OVP in 2022 even when it was not offered beneath the 2022 nationwide funds, in addition to its enormous P4.5 billion confidential fund that nearly accounts for half of its proposed funds. —KG, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
