Petitioners assailed the transfer of the P125 million from the Office of the President’s (OP) contingency fund to the OVP’s confidential funds in 2022, which the Commission on Audit said was spent only for 11 days. The petitioners argued that the transfer of funds from the national budget to the OVP can only be executed by the legislative department, neither by the OP nor the OVP. “The executive department has no discretion to create another budget item,” he added. Furthermore, the petitioners argued that the confidential funds, specifically the OVP's are not within the scope of funding permitted by the contingent fund due to the absence of any allocation. “There is no item for a confidential fund, therefore, there is no transfer that is allowed by law which is through augmentation,” Santiago said.

Source: Philippine Star November 07, 2023 20:20 UTC