By Junex Doronio

MANILA — Echoing Vice President Sara Duterte, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday, December 12, said that it was no longer concerned that the bicameral conference committee decided against reinstating its proposed P150 million confidential funds for DepEd for 2024 in the final version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The popularity of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also the concurrent DepEd Secretary, was affected as her ratings plunged in rating surveys after she had requested confidential funds worth P500 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P150 million for DepEd for 2024.

“Hindi naman siya kawalan so we have already accepted that during the last hearing we had in the Senate. That is why we proposed its reallocation to critical program of the department, particularly the national learning recovery program,” DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas quipped in an interview with ABS-CBN News.

He added that the DepEd maintains its earlier statement during the Senate hearing that it can survive without confidential funds.

Realizing the public uproar on the confidential funds, VP Duterte later announced that she would no longer pursue the requested funds since the issue of confidential funds had become “divisive”.

Instead, she requested that confidential funds for DepEd be realigned to the national learning recovery program.

“So wala tayong adverse comment pa for now but we maintain our position na we also want that fund to be in the national learning recovery,” Bringas said.

(ai/mnm)

By Junex Doronio

STRESSING THAT IT’S ONLY CONGRESS that has the power of the purse, so to speak, a group of legal and economic experts that includes former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno and 1987 Constitution framer Christian Monsod filed on Tuesday a petition before the Supreme Court to declare as “unconstitutional” Vice President Sara Duterte’s P125-million confidential funds, and asked to “return the money to the government’s treasury.”

The petitioners argued that even if the Office of the President (OP) approved the transfer, and the funds were released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the transfer of funds from the national budget to the OVP tantamounts to an exercise of legislative power.

“Verily, the appropriation done by the DBM is a clear usurpation of the legislative power of the Congress of the Philippines to create and fund an item that has not been done so by the Congress itself,” the petitioners maintained.

Their petition before the SC is for certiorari, or one that questions the grave abuse of discretion by a government agency or official.

Ironically, it was administration ally Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo who had exposed that the OVP spent the P125-million confidential funds in just 11 days in 2022.

The public uproar over the issue prompted the House of Representatives led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez to strip the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) that VP Sara Duterte heads as its department secretary the P650-million total of confidential funds for 2024.

Crossing party lines, the congressmen decided to realign the confidential funds to the agencies tasked to safeguard the country’s security and sovereignty in the face of Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea.

“It is most respectfully prayed that this Honorable Court declare the transfer of the amount of P125 million to the Office of the Vice President as unconstitutional and that the Office of the Vice President be ordered to return the money to the government’s treasury,” the petitioners urged the SC.

In their petition, they also pointed out that “Clearly, the transfer from the Contingency Fund of the Office of the President to an inexistent ‘Confidential Fund’ is invalid, much not having a valid purpose for the said unlawful transfer.”

(ai/mnm)

By Liza Soriano

Leyte District 4 Representative Richard Gomez has expressed his support for House Speaker Martin Romualdez in response to the controversy surrounding the removal of confidential funds from some government agencies.

“I support Speaker Romualdez because he leads our institution, and we must stand by our Speaker,” Gomez affirmed.

Gomez emphasized that the House of Representatives has the authority to scrutinize agencies regarding their proposed budgets.

“That’s the standard procedure. During budget sessions, we, as congressmen, question where the funds will be allocated, the justification for additional funds, and how they intend to utilize these funds,” the Leyte lawmaker explained.

On a different note, the House Majority Floor Leader believes that the decision to eliminate confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education is not politically motivated.

“The next general election is still a long way off, so I don’t think this decision is politically motivated. The focus here is on Congress’s demand for transparency in the allocation of confidential and intelligence funds,” he clarified. (ai/mnm)

Image Courtesy of Benjie Cuaresma

By Junex Doronio

AMID THE BROUHAHA of controversial confidential and intelligence funds of government agencies, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla has expressed favor if only that those funds were put to proper use for the confiscation of a drug shipment in the wake of P3.6 billion worth of suspected shabu that entered on Wednesday night through Subic port.

Remulla said Subic is now under tight watch after the shabu shipment reportedly ended up in a warehouse in Pampanga and was tracked down by authorities.

“Sa akin, ang confidential funds, for this operation to succeed we had to use confidential funds because that’s the only way we can make things move… It’s something that is reserved for agencies that really have to work in manners, in methods that are not always standard because some things cannot be revealed,” Remulla said.

He added that the authorities, however, confiscated the suspected drug weighing 530 kilograms also on Wednesday night, September 27.

Remulla bared that the suspected drug shipment, which had Thai markings, came with “chicharon” and dog food.

“Subic ang mainit ngayon, actually Subic din ang na-pinpoint namin na source ng maraming smuggling sa bansa. That’s why we have to watch over Subic,” Remulla further disclosed.

Maharlika Nu Media tried to get the side of the Bureau of Customs-Port of Subic but its head District Collector Ciriaco “Dhucky” Ugay could not be reached for comment as of this posting. (ai/mnm)

Image Courtesy of Inday Sara Duterte Official Facebook Account

By Junex Doronio

LIKE MAGIC, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent its 2022 confidential funds amounting to P125 million in just 11 days.

This was revealed on Monday by Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo who became an unexpected and instant ally of Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas who — along with her fellow lawmakers from the so-called Makabayan bloc — thought the OVP confidential funds were spent in 19 days.

“Ang totoo po ay nagulat din po ako nung mabasa ko ang mga balita na tila nagastos po sa loob ng 19 days [ang CF]… Tinanong ko po ang COA (Commission on Audit) at tiningnan ko po ang mga iba’t ibang mga reports pero hindi po ito nagastos sa loob ng 19 days kung hindi 11 days po,” Quimbo said.

Ironically, Quimbo has been defending the OVP’s confidential funds, but now she was speaking on behalf of the Commission on Audit (COA) during the plenary deliberation on the proposed 2024 budget.

The Marikina City solon said the COA has asked the OVP to further explain and provide more documents to support its use of the P125-million confidential funds in 2022.

Quimbo further stated that the OVP submitted its liquidation report back in January 2023 and the COA issued an audit observation memorandum in September for the OVP to explain.

With the anti-communist stance of VP Duterte and the penchant to red-tag government critics, Brosas appeared more apprehensive.

“Eleven days, ang hirap isipin kasi parang kung surveillance yan, ilang reward payment po yan na aabot ng P11 million per day,” she blurted out. (ai/mnm)

Image Courtesy of: Inday Sara Duterte (Facebook)

By: Junex Doronio

APPARENTLY AFFECTED by the controversy generated by the P150-million confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) for the Department of Education (DepEd) where she also sits as concurrent head, Vice President Sara Duterte’s popularity as Education Secretary dipped from 66 percent in the second quarter to 60 percent in the third quarter.

This was revealed on Friday by
PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. which said the P150-million CIF for DepEd “is now at the forefront as the most pressing issue hurting her (VP Duterte} overall performance.”

Seemingly, the public being surveyed was not convinced by Duterte’s justification of her CIF that it’s for the DepEd’s anti-insurgency efforts.

“Education is intertwined with national security. It’s important for us to mold children who are patriotic, who will love our country and defend our country,” Duterte said.

The Vice President — eldest daughter of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte noticeably uses her father’s surname instead of her marital name Carpio — is also the co-vice chairman of the government’s anti-communist insurgency task force, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

The elder Duterte once vowed to wipe out the communist insurgency within his six-year-term but failed just like his anti-drug campaign.

PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. claimed that the noncommissioned survey was conducted from September 7 to September 12. Its respondents were randomly drawn from the market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos maintained by the Singapore office of PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace.

It added that the respondents were spread across five geographical areas — National Capital Region, North Central Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

This latest development was reminiscent of former Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay whose popularity declined due to graft charges and eventually lost when he ran for president in 2016.

By Junex Doronio

NOTICING THAT MANY ONLINE SCAMS and cyber sex abuses come from other countries, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has justified its request for P300 million in confidential funds, saying it is crucial in the agency’s fight against scammers and cybercriminals.

DICT Secretary John Uy also disclosed that they are now coordinating with law enforcement agencies of those countries where cybercriminals operate to stop online financial crimes, as well as sexual abuses, especially those victimizing Filipino children.

“Many of these operators, they hide behind extra-territoriality because they feel if they operate from another country and the victims are not in that country but elsewhere, the law enforcers do not bother them,” Uy said on Tuesday, September 19, before the hearing of Senate finance committee.

Regarding online sexual abuses, Uy said the DICT informs the country where the perpetrators are located, and their law enforcers will track them down and seize the materials being used.

“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to make the world smaller for them by having exchanges with these countries,” he pointed out.

(ai/mnm)

By: Junex Doronio

REMINISCENT OF THE bitter experience of former Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binary who had been leading the surveys as the preferred presidential bet in 2016 but lost due to corruption charges against him, the controversy of P125-million confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) may gravely affect Vice President Sara Duterte’s chances in a three-way presidential race with Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senator Risa Hontiveros.

Political analyst and University of the Philippines professor Ela Atienza noted that Duterte attacked Hontivero because she perceived the senator as a “threat”.

“The highest ranking opposition now is Risa. But the point is, [Duterte] has to show that she knows something, at lumalabas napakapikon niya, ‘di ba?” Atienza said.

The UP professor also recalled the case of Binay who had to face controversies mid-term and now VP Sara already had to grapple with them in her first year of office.

Failing to give satisfactory answers on how confidential funds of the OVP were used in 2022 when no line item for them existed in the previous budget, Duterte resorted to personal attacks against her critics, singling out Hontiveros and ACT Teachers Representative France Castro.

Atienza said that Duterte engaging in a word war with Hontiveros and trying to dodge explaining her CF only showed that she wasn’t ready to be criticized nor questioned.

“In Davao, she’s spoiled. In Davao, there’s a group of people protecting her, they answer for her. They run the city hall for her. She is very defensive because she’s not used to being criticized. She usually has other people answering for her but this is the national stage,” she said.

On the other hand, sociologist Jayeel Cornelio said that while Sara enjoys tremendous popularity while reaping the benefits of the Duterte brand (thanks to her father, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte), she cannot escape public scrutiny when it comes to issues of corruption. (AI/MNM)