Petition Challenges Confidential Funds of the Office of the Vice President

MANILA: A new petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court, challenging the allocation of confidential intelligence funds to the Office of the Vice President last year. Filed on Monday, the 34-page suit was initiated by members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, questioning the legality of the PHP125 million confidential funds received by Vice President Sara Duterte.

According to Philippines News Agency, which include incumbent party-list representatives Arlene Brosas (Gabriela) and France Castro (Alliance of Concerned Teachers), former House senior deputy minority leader Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna), and former House deputy minority leader Carlos Zarate (Bayan Muna), the court is urged to declare the request, receipt, and usage of these funds as unconstitutional. They also seek to make these funds auditable by the Commission on Audit (COA) in the same manner as other public funds and to order the restitution of the disputed amount. This legal action follows a month after a similar lawsuit was filed by former Commissions on Elections chair Christian Monsod and lawyer Ibarra Gutierrez III, a spokesperson of former vice president Leni Robredo.