29-5-2024 (MANILA) Vice President Sara Duterte has petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the petitions questioning the constitutionality of the P125 million confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for the year 2022.
In a 19-page consolidated comment, Duterte argued that the petitions fail to present an actual case or controversy, nor do they assert a legally enforceable right.
“The petitions are mere apprehension and speculation about contingent funds or confidential funds, which does not constitute a justiciable controversy,” Duterte’s consolidated comment, filed on May 9, 2024, through former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, stated.
The vice president’s petition noted that while the SC holds judicial power, this does not imply that it must address every question within its authority to answer.
“The policy of the courts is to avoid ruling on constitutional questions and to presume that the acts of the political departments are valid, absent a clear and unmistakable showing to the contrary. To doubt is to sustain. This presumption is based on the doctrine of separation of powers. This means that the measure had first been carefully studied by the legislative and executive departments and found to be in accord with the Constitution before it was finally enacted and approved,” Duterte’s comment read.
“To conclude, it is important to state that courts do not sit to adjudicate mere academic questions to satisfy scholarly interest therein, however intellectually solid the problem may be,” it added.
The controversy erupted after the Office of the President transferred P125 million to the OVP in 2022, which the Commission on Audit noted was spent within a mere 11 days.
This action was assailed by two groups in separate petitions filed in November 2023. The first petitioners questioned the constitutionality of the P125 million transfer from the Office of the President’s contingency fund to the OVP’s CIF in 2022.
The other petition sought the nullification of Executive Order (EO) No. 2 and the Commission on Audit Joint Circular 2015-01, which allows the use, transfer, and disbursement of the CIF.
Both petitioners also requested the SC to compel the OVP to return the disputed funds to the national treasury.
It is worth noting that on November 9, 2023, the OVP retracted its appeal to receive P650 million in confidential funds from the 2024 national budget.
