Jamayka Rhose Pascual

Vice president Sara Duterte has urged the House of Representatives to investigate President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s alleged use of confidential funds.

Photo Courtesy of GMA Network.

In a press conference on December 11, Duterte criticized the ongoing investigation of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), calling it “unfair and politically motivated.”

“If you are in aid of legislation and want to legislate about confidential funds, you do not target one office… What you do is you do a sampling, a random sampling of the offices who have confidential funds,” she stated.

Duterte argued that if lawmakers want reform on how confidential funds are used, they should also examine the Office of the President (OP), which reportedly spent P4.56 billion in 2023.

She emphasized that targeting her office alone is disrespectful, especially when other agencies, including the OP, hold far larger budgets for these funds.

“Why not call the Office of the President who has billions and billions of confidential funds if you want to legislate about the confidential funds? So that shows that they’re singling out the Office of the Vice President. And I really feel that it’s very disrespectful to the Office of the Vice President,” Duterte said.

According to the Commission on Audit Annual Financial Report, the OP under Marcos remained the highest in confidential expenses.

It allocated P2.25 billion for confidential funds and P2.31 billion for intelligence funds in 2023, amounting to P4.56 billion.

Duterte claimed that the House's connection to Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of the President, suggests the investigation may be influenced by political ties.

“So that is the reason why I am not answering questions from the House of Representatives, plus the fact that, as I said, it is an attack. It is a political attack,” she stressed.

This follows an investigation into the OVP’s disbursement of P612 million in confidential funds, including allocations made when Duterte served as Secretary of the Department of Education

Duterte responded to the criticism, explaining that the use of confidential funds involves sensitive national security issues and intelligence operations that cannot be easily disclosed.

“In fact, two quarters of the Department of Education are already cleared by the Commission and Audit, but it is still being questioned inside the committee in the House of Representatives,” she added.