By Junex Doronio
MANILA — On how the liquidated P112 million 2023 confidential fund during the term of Vice President Sara Duterte as Department of Education Secretary was used has baffled the lawmakers during the House Appropriations Committee deliberations on the DepEd’s proposed P793 billion budget for 2025.
DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla on Monday (2 September 2024) told the House panel that the department was unaware of how the fund was utilized.
“We would like to clarify DepEd Finance’s role in the release, utilization, and reporting of the confidential fund,” Sevilla told the House panel.
“To answer po ‘yung question kung alam ba namin’ yung details nung pinagamitan, we do not know because we’re not part of the process po ng utilization and liquidation,” she pointed out.
It can be recalled that last week, Kabataan party-list lawmaker Raoul Manuel asked VP Sara to explain the disbursement of confidential funds during her term as Education Secretary.
However, VP Sara repeatedly refused to answer questions from the lawmakers, especially those involving confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Education Department.
She contended that these were not related to her office’s proposed P2 billion budget for 2025.
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