COLUMN WRITING (FACT SHEET)

TOPIC #1: OVP Confidential Funds

Current Update
● MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte and the Department of Education (DepEd)
which she heads will not have confidential funds next year as lawmakers decided to realign the
amount – totaling P650 million – in the 2024 national budget that the House of Representatives
approved in record speed yesterday (September 28).
● The House appropriations committee declared late Wednesday that confidential funds sought by
the Office of the Vice President and the DepEd have been realigned to agencies involved in
intelligence work. “As discussed, we will realign the confidential funds of various civilian agencies.
Now is the time to give our intelligence community the means to perform their duties, especially in
these pressing times when we’re facing serious concerns in the West Philippine Sea,” committee
chairman Rep. Zaldy Co said.
● “The country’s safety and security are of paramount importance. To protect our territorial integrity
from external threats, Congress is giving top priority to agencies directly in charge protecting the
country’s safety and securing its borders,” the Ako Bicol party-list lawmaker added.
Old Privilege
● Duterte enjoyed large confidential funds – reaching up to P460 million a year – even during her
stint as Davao City mayor, based on reports of the Commission on Audit (COA).
● COA’s annual audit reports (AARs) on Davao City government from 2016 to 2022 showed that it
has been incurring confidential expenses amounting to hundreds of million pesos from the time
Duterte succeeded her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, as local chief executive after the
May 9, 2016 elections.
● Duterte officially assumed office as Davao City mayor on June 30, 2016. The city’s confidential
expenses ballooned to P420 million in 2018, then to P460 million yearly from 2019 to 2022.
● Duterte is currently in hot water after it was revealed – also through the COA’s AAR – that the
OVP incurred P125 million in confidential expenses in 2022 which she reportedly spent under 19
days, from zero confidential expenses in 2021 during the last full term of her predecessor, Leni
Robredo.
‘No CIF’ Facade
● The revelation in the audit report became controversial as the OVP had no confidential and
intelligence fund (CIF) allocation under Republic Act 11639 or the 2022 General Appropriations
Act (GAA).
● It was later revealed that the P125 million fund came from the Office of the President (OP), after
Duterte wrote a letter dated Aug. 22, 2022 to the Department of Budget and Management, asking
for a total of P403.46-million budget augmentation supposedly to “ensure continuous operations
of the OVP under the current year.”
● Several incumbent and former lawmakers, including Sen. Risa Hontiveros, former Senate
president Franklin Drilon and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman slammed the budget augmentation as
unconstitutional, as there was no allocation for such a fund for the OVP under the 2022 GAA.
● Lagman, leader of the opposition Liberal Party, said that transfer of funds from the OP to another
office like the OVP was prohibited under Article 6, Section 25(5) of the 1987 Constitution
● “Transfer for augmentation must be from savings of the office concerned. It was admitted that in
the President’s contingent fund, the savings in 2022 was only P50 million but the release to the
OVP was P125 million,” Lagman said. “In other words, it was not from savings. Moreover, the OP,
through its sponsor, repeatedly said that the release of the amount was not from savings,” he
added.
● It was also revealed during the budget hearings at the House of Representatives that the OVP
spent the P125 million CF it received from the OP in just 19 days or from Dec. 13 to 31, which
translates to about P6.5 million per day.
 COLUMN WRITING (FACT SHEET)

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TOPIC #2: Environmentalists Abduction

Background
● MANILA, Philippines — Two environmental activists allegedly abducted by the Philippine military
more than two weeks ago were freed Tuesday, sparking jubilation among supporters who had
campaigned for their release.
● Jonila Castro, 21, and Jhed Tamano, 22, had been working with coastal communities opposed t0
reclamation activities in Manila Bay when they disappeared on September 2 in Bataan province,
near the capital Manila.
● The women were released Tuesday hours after appearing at a government press conference
where they went off script and accused the military of abduction—charges the authorities have
repeatedly denied.
● The Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for land and environmental
defenders, with 11 killed in 2022, according to watchdog Global Witness.

The Claim
● During a press conference organized by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed
Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in Plaridel, Bulacan September 19, community volunteers Jonila Castro
and Jhed Tamano denied that they voluntarily surrendered to the military.
● Rights groups previously alleged the women had been violently abducted, possibly by "state
actors", apparently in relation to their activism.
● “The truth is that we were abducted by the military on board a van. We were forced to surrender
because we were threatened. That is the truth,” Castro said in Filipino. “We never wanted to be in
the custody of the military. The contents of the affidavits are not true because those were signed
inside the military camp. We were not able to do anything that time,” added Castro, a volunteer of
multi-sectoral network AKAP KA Manila Bay.
● Castro was referring to the affidavits that they supposedly signed, which stated that they left the
communist movement. It was presented by the NTF-ELCAC in an earlier press conference to
supposedly prove that the two were not kidnapped.
● "We were obliged to surrender because they threatened to kill us. That's the truth. We did not
want to be in the custody of the military." Castro said the statement they signed was "not true".
“Elaborate Hoax”
● On September 15, nearly two weeks after the pair's disappearance, the National Security Council
(NSC) and police announced at a news conference that Castro and Tamano were being held in a
safe house after they sought help from authorities.
● They denied the women were activists and said allegations by "leftist organizations" that they had
been abducted was "fake news" and an "elaborate hoax".
● "They were portrayed as environmentalists. They are not environmentalists but leftist organizers.
They left the movement of their own free will," NSC spokesman Jonathan Malaya told reporters at
the time.
● Castro was referring to the affidavits that they supposedly signed, which stated that they left the
communist movement. It was presented by the NTF-ELCAC in an earlier press conference to
supposedly prove that the two were not kidnapped.
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Reference:
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/09/20/2297675/environmental-activists-freed-after-alleged-militar
y-abduction,
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/09/20/2297561/environment-activists-claim-abduction-military