EDITORIAL - A step toward reforms

Saying it had become a “divisive issue,” Vice President Sara Duterte is dropping her request for P650 million in confidential funds for 2024, a spokesman announced yesterday. In fact the Vice President and concurrent education secretary was left with no choice after senators decided, like members of the House of Representatives, to realign all confidential and intelligence funds only to agencies with national security functions.

The Office of the Vice President will therefore not get its proposed P500 million in confidential funds in 2024. The Department of Education, which Duterte heads concurrently, will also not get the requested P150 million.

Defenders of the Vice President and her father have dismissed the realignment of secret funds as mere politicking. With both chambers of Congress approving the realignment, lawmakers must ensure that this is not just a political move, but a step toward long-lasting reforms for transparency and accountability in the utilization of public funds.

To pass the necessary reforms, Congress need not wait for the Supreme Court to rule on a petition challenging the constitutionality of the allocation of P125 million in confidential funds to the Office of the Vice President, upon Sara Duterte’s request, in the final six months last year, even if there was no item for this in the General Appropriations Act for 2022. The Commission on Audit has confirmed that the amount, sourced from the contingent fund of the Office of the President, was spent by the OVP within just 11 days in December.

Congress should expand the review of secret fund allocations to local government units. As Davao City mayor, Sara Duterte had enjoyed hefty confidential funds. In 2016, when her father Rodrigo Duterte served as mayor in the first half before assuming the presidency, the city government had P144 million in confidential funds.

During Sara Duterte’s first full year as mayor in 2017, Davao City’s confidential funds more than doubled to P293 million. The amount soared to P420 million in 2018, and jumped further to P460 million annually in the next three years before she became Vice President. The amount is significantly larger than the confidential expenses of wealthier cities such as Makati, Manila, Quezon City and Cebu.

Giving officials wide personal discretion in the utilization of huge amounts of people’s money is a recipe for anomalous spending. Congress’ rationalization of the allocation and use of secret funds should not stop at the doorsteps of the Vice President and education secretary.