check check his sound check Lakasan mo mahal check check is check k budget briefing is here by resumed committee secretary Please acknowledge our guests present this afternoon Good afternoon Thank you madam chair May we acknowledge the presence of her excellency vice president of the Republic of the Philippines Zara Duterte may We also acknowledge the Representative from Commission on audit assistant commissioner Alexander Juliano and from the Department of Budget and Management Chief Johnny Castillo may We also acknowledge the members present May we acknowledge the presence of the former President representative Gloria makapag royo deputy minority leader Franz Castro deputy speaker yaser balindong deputy majority leader ino d deputy majority leader lianda billa deputy majority leader Jose Bong Teves deputy minority leader Presley de Jesus our chairperson elizan Senior Vice Cher Stella kimbo Vice Cher Zia alonto Adong Vice Cher Rachel delm Vice Cher Jose Alvarez Vice Cher Natasha co Vice Cher Claude Bautista Vice ch Mary Carl zor representative arlin Brosas representative Isidro ungap representative Chino Miguel Almario representative Raul Manuel representative Loreto amante representative Salvador pleito representative Joel Chua representative Jefferson kung hun representative Bambi anano representative Mar go representative Milagros Aquino Magsaysay representative Francisco Paolo Ortega representative Mikaela juaning representative Ramon Gutierrez representative Geraldine Roman representative Maria Victoria copar representative Christian unabia representative imim presnedi representative dck cardema and Vice chair Allan t Madam chair This is also to formally inform the members of the committee that the coa have complied with the supina dusong issued by this committee on August 16 2024 on the submission of the report on the use of the confidential funds of the office of the vice president and the Department of Education the report was submitted on August 21 2024 a copy of the said audit report has been submitted to the Chairman of the committee on appropriations members of the committee who wish to access and examine the content of this report are adv to submit a formal written request the chairperson of the committee That's all Madam chair thank you Okay salamat to our appropriations chair the honorable Eliz Al our former President Gloria Macapagal royo colleagues our Vice President the honorable Sarah Duterte the ovp family Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat on behalf of speaker Martin raldz welcome po to the house of representatives so today we are discussing the proposed budget of the office of the vice president for 2025 which totals 2.37 billiones this 8.05 increase from the current Year's budget is intended to support the continuation and expansion of the ovp key programs But before we proceed committee secretary kindly update us on documents received that are relevant to today's hearing Madam ch I have already stated a while ago that we are in rece already of the audit report Salamat and so with that Madam President you with the budget presentation Thank you Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen the presentation will be in three parts the first part is the audio visual presentation May we request secretaria to please play the audio visual presentation Thank you presion ACC and service the countable [Musika] imp by and comm by inter that imate and sol these interop and imp the colaboration with var government agen local government unit private group people and indiv part the off of the Pres second government Nation and PR comm to the of prs Andes inend to create a las posi imp lives of phip under the leaders ofce Pres the off of the President has Reg of the country the PAR in the movement Nation aspiration have incl and we Contin to the mission of impr the quality of Life of every philipin espcially those in the most und commun we provide V assistance prr that 2024 3 Med 34 71 99000 ass given to 1982 benar weed [Musika] Pangasinan and Bicol in Visayas panai and Negros Islands eas Visayas Inu Bohol and sik and in mindana paraga western mindana Southern Mindanao and boro autonomous region in muslim mindanao in addition two Extension offices of the public assistance division were also open in lip Batangas Cate 2024 a 1.85 avilable bu the 7% 5.79 our Mak that people sa ACC and commute of 34 filipin from jary to June 2024 a ofes trans passengers in ce dav and metro foll the Cal has disrupt the lives of our people inon and some parts of we have also intensified ours to deliver immediate and assistance to affected commun in ad to our objective of 4278 famili benefited from the operations mobilized by our disas OP c j 2024 of 58.3 resource Pres theon preservation while und the Val of hear inter of the of Pres encouragement J 2023 to 2024 we are pleased to say that over 300000 trees planted across many communities all over the country while over 175000 bags with dental kits and school supplies distributed to learners sch commun ntional sch prs which distributed to several identified school commun in and Our mission Li in our unve to lear nad heure can gr aga security anden We sucessfully initiated the distribution of rice bags and food packs to 3660 philipino families and individuals facing the challenges of Hunger and food insecurity R program of the office of the vice president is conduct to extend immediate and provide necessary to our our people hes for of life ping AV that ur the present needs Likewise we commited to Our mission toomic Dev wom and of lgbtq plus communities by providing andun to 2065 ement form National engagement attended by the office of the vice president to show support and express our gratitude for the commendable social Civic and development efforts undertaken by various organizations in the public and private sector for 2025 the recommended budget for ovp is 2.37 billion an 8.05 increase compared to the current Year appropriation amounting to 1.85 billion this Contin op the exal hand inov shares the hopes aspirations and dreams of the Filipinos and we at the obp take pride that it is an institution that puts the welfare of the Filipinos at the heart of its mission the ovp commits to lead Ser uplift and empower the Filipinos ang tanggapan ng Pangalawang Pangulo ng Pilipinas pamumunuan paglilingkuran aalalayan ang mga Pilipino Lagi kaming [Musika] saay thank you secretariat We proceed to the second part which is the opening statement for the budget ladies and gentlemen Magandang araw sa inyong lahat on June 19 2022 I swear a note to Faithfully and consciously fulfill my duties as a vice president of the Philippines preserve and defend its constitution execute its laws do justice to every man and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation it is then my lawful Duty to give aid to any person who reaches out to the ovp seeking relief I must do justice to every man and I intend to do So historically the medical and burial assistance programs have always been continuing projects of the institution the legacy projects that we invision however includes a permanent office for future Vice Presidents a Vice President Museum and for the ovp to have Its Own charter unfortunately the latter projects may never come to prision given the political climat surrounding the institution the programs activities and projects of the ovp that are original to my term are those that echo my campaign platform of trabaho edukasyon at mapayapang pamumuhay more importantly this also embody in the nature of constant requests and please for assistance that we have been receiving in the ovp majority of which are the medical and assistance followed by assistance for financial difficulties livelihood and support for school related expenses as well as immediate aids when calamities Strike aspiring to provide responsive service even to geographically isolated and disadvantaged communities the ovp established 10 satellite offices two Extension offices a disaster operation center and extended programs such as the medical and bual assistance Libreng sakay kalusugan food trucks and the pansara project pagbabago a million learners and trees campaign magnegosyo to Die and relief operations for individuals during crisis and emergencies these programs fall under the banners of peace poverty alleviation calamity response health education and environmental stewardship this form part of the o i have taken as these are repeatedly mentioned and provided for in our constitution on the matter of ovp projects being similar to the mandate of other government offices there is certainly no agency that has the Monopoly of Government services no Office of the government should be so helpless as to deny assistance to a person in distress after all the Duty of Government is to afford our countrymen with faithful public service corollary to this is the issue of politics being involved in relation to the national Budget and release of financial assistance We need not go further than the statement of senator IMY Marcos during the Senate budget hearing wherein she corroborated our claim and said ang sasabihin ko lang e hindi naman sa Barangay lamang napupulitika ayuda Pati dito sa mga senador pati sa ating pangalawang pangulo I shall now address the issues that are ger to the use of public funds it is my belief that it will be a stretch if not absurd to compare the budget of my immediate predecessor to the present budget proposal we do not have personal knowledge as to Why she did not request for a fair budget for her projects on the issue of security personnel It must be clarified that during the time of my predecessors the protection team was only limited to the vice Presidential Security detachment during my term however there were legal issuances made by the dnd AFP PNP and naple comom for the creation of the AFP Vice Presidential Security and protection group and the PNP Vice presidential protection division It must also be clarified that the number of security personnel is not not determined by the ovp we are Mere recipients of the security personnel detailed to the office to date they are No more PNP personnel in the ovp on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing audit I am however bewildered as to the issues propagated on the fact that we were able to efficiently utilize funds given to the ovp in December 2022 considering that in the government usually we disperse millions if not billions of pesos in a single day and what makes it even more perplexing is that government agencies are often criticized for low budget utilization rates for this proposal as an example we were even required explain the low utilization or disbursement rates and present a catchup plan for such turning on the issue of the book I have written ang libro na pinamagatang isang kaibigan ay ginagamit namin sa book donation at book reading or storytelling Sessions sa mga paaralang binibisita ko isinasagawa namin ito upang mahikayat ang mga bata na mahalin ang pagbabasa at sumulat ng sarili nilang kwento the inclusion of my name and image on the about the author page is a common practice for authors and is not intended as a political move more importantly the project recipients of the book are elementary students and grade se learners this any insinuation of political motives as they will not even be eligible to vote for 2028 which then brings us to the matter of impeachment bilang isang kaibigan I will not violate the confidence of a few members of the house of representatives who have either recorded conversations or participated in shared conversations regarding each impeachment proceedings against me nonetheless This is nothing new Talks of impeachment have been ongoing for several months now in fact a member of the lower house has publicly declared in an interview where she was quoted by the Philippine Daily inquir saying that in light of the possible numerous violations of the ovp on the use of the 125 million confidential fund which is not in the 2022 general appropriations act we are not discounting the fact that it may file an impeachment case against the vice president surprisingly despite the abs of proof as to any wrong doing she already revealed the grounds For impeachments when she was also quoted saying us especially on the misuse of public funds technical malversation and violation of the 1987 constitution finally on the issue of the West Philippine Sea I stand by the constitution which provides that the state shall pursue an independent foreign policy in its relations with other States the Paramount consideration shall be National Sovereignty territorial integrity National interest and the right to self-determination as Filipinos We are all in agreement that our claim is firmly anchored on the UN convention and the law of the Seas and the 2016 arbitral award but we must also Bear in mind that bilateral relations are not dictated by a singular issue or concern like a territorial dispute But rather by a comprehensive approach that considers the broader context of shared interests and regional stability while Silence on specific harassment is is may be perceived as a lack of response it is essential to recognize that such decisions are made following established mandates and particular responsibilities of relevant agencies it is well settled that the president is the chief architect of Foreign policy it therefore follows that appropriate agencies are task with addressing and implementing measures related to our foreign policy position and as a reserve officer of the arm Forces of the Philippines I sincerely appreciate the sacrifices made by our uniform personel in the service of our National interests however it is crucial to avoid politicizing their SAF sacrifices for media mileage or social media commentary instead we focus and uring andu in a man thats their contribution and the their service which we in the ovp continue to do and have always chosen to do Away with the cameras I now proceed to the Powerpoint presentation of the sent Points of the ovp budget proposal for fiscal year 2025 may request the secretariat for the Powerpoint presentation Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen we present the key points from our submitted documents in response to the request of the committee on item number one on the highlights and on item number one on the highlights and major thrusts of fiscal year 2025 proposed budget of the office of Vice President under the fiscal year National fiscal year 2025 of the national expenditure program the Department of Budget and Management has recommended a budget of 2.03 billion visa the 3.24 billion proposed of the office of the vice president the amount recommended is 8.0% higher than the fiscal year 2024 budget as appropriated the 8% increase is large in the expansion of the socio economic programs medical Andal assistance and disaster relief out of the 2.37 billion budget 9.25 per to the recommended personal services budget we recommended personal services budget for fiscal year 2025 covers 149 filed positions special Duty allowance for military and uniformed personnel salary for non permanent positions It also includes provision for terminal leave benefits of mandatory retirees loyalty award and anniversary bonus for ovp personel the total personal services including rlip for fiscal year 2025 is 188 514 million the recommended maintenance and other operating expenses or Moe for fiscal year 2025 is equivalent to 1.79 billion a significant portion of the total Moe is allocated for financial assistance and subsidies and supplies and materials welfare goods which account for 5286 and 15.9% of the total Moe the Moe is 87.9 of the total budget the total capital outlay budget is 2.77 of the total recommended budget this covers the procurement of motor vehicles in relation to the ceremonial diplomatic and advocacy based engagements of the ovp It also includes ict equipment and various machineries and equipment as to the appropriation source the amount of 2.26 billion or 99.5% is under agency specific and 0% is under the retirement and life insurance premium or rlip on item number two the matter of budget utilization for the first semester of fiscal year 2024 out of the current full year allotment of 1.8 85 billiones the ovp has utilized 7851 million as of the end of the first semester of 2024 which is equivalent to an obligation rate of 42% we have dispersed 5167 million with a disbursement rate of 66% based on the combined current Year and continuing appropriations the first semester obligation rate is 40% while the disbursement rate is 70% the budget utilization rate for our key programs are as follows for financial subsidy which covers the medical and bual assistance and livelihood grants under the magnegosyo to die program the utilization rate is at 41% for Libreng sakay it's 25% for pagbabago program it is 82% based on awarded contracts but actual distribution only started in the second semester for the panera program 4% procurement was still under the post qualification stage as of the end of the first semester And that's for disaster operation 78% on item number 3 which is the comparative budget allocation from 2019 to 2025 the appropriated budget of the ovp beginning 2019 is above 500 million it has significantly increased since then and under the curent year appropriation the ovp has 1.80 1.85 billion while the appropriation has significantly increased in 2023 the obligation rate remained in good standing and maintain the rate of above 90% presented here presented here is the table showing the amounts per allotment class from 2019 to 2025 fal year 2025 the ovp has a recommended amount of 2.37 billion under the fiscal year 2025 National expenditure program similar to fiscal year 2024 budget significant portion of the recommended level is under financial assistance and subsidy for the implementation of the medical and vial assistance as well as the ovp livelihood project magy tday the recommended fiscal year 2025 budget is 8.5% higher than the fiscal year 2024 budget as appropriated due to the expansion of the social economic services of the ovp which is proposed under tier two of the total ovp proposed budget 1.269 billion or 62% is allotted for the social economic programs of the ovp on item four which is on the issues and concerns in budget execution resulting to low utilization we would like to note that the 40% obligation rate for the first semester is close to our submitted first semester target of 43% bu of the budget of the ovp is For subsidies which we intend to spread out and utilize even throughout the year we achieved almost the same utilization rates for the first semesters of the previous year but we were still able to achieve more than the 90% budget utilization at the end of the year for 2022 first semester utilization rate was at 50% while the full yearz rate was at 92% for 2023 the first semester utilization rate was at 4.6% while the full year utilization rate was also at 92% We also have programs which are to be implemented in the second semester of the year specifically the pagbabago and panera programs which we roll out during the start of the new school year which begins in July June July August another reason for the utilization rate is the ongoing papayer review for the applications received for the mag negosyo tad Sorry Just July and August Uh There are no classes during the month of June the disbursement rate of 70% over obligation was due to the unveiled medical assistant grants through various service providers from and satellite offices and the central office as well as undelivered unpaid procured goods during the latter part of the first semester on item number five on the spending catchup Plans to ensure that the ovp will be able to achieve High utilization and disbursement rates at the year end the ovp will implement the following first We will release the GR of assistance under the mag negocio today in the second semester of the year the first semester of the year was dedicated to accepting applications and thorough paper review and ocular inspection to date the implementing unit is in the process of approving the accreditation of associations and processing of Grant to individual and group applicants second We will closely monitor the remaining projects under public bidding and ensure that the contracts will be awarded within the fiscal year the items covered by the awarded contracts are to be delivered in the second semester and the payment disbursement for those items should be made before the end of 2024 on item number six major accomplishments of the ovp as the second highest office in the land the ovp aims to promote the welfare of every Philippine In Line with vision to create lasting impact on the lives of every Filipino through socioeconomic programs and services in the past two years we have successfully rolled out new programs such as the Libreng sakay pagbabago a million learners and trees campaign kalusugan food trucks and panera project the ovp programs are implemented through our central office satellite office and Extension offices the ovp established satellite offices and Extension offices which are strategically located in key areas in Luzon Visayas and Mindanao to provide Filipinos with immediate access to the services offered by the ovp in luzon we have the Cagayan Valley satellite office Pangasinan satellite office and Bicol satellite office in Visayas we have the Cebu Bohol and sor satellite office Eastern Visayas satellite office panay and Negros Island satellite office then in Mindanao we have the Caraga satellite office Southern Mindanao satellite office Western Mindanao satellite office and barm satellite office sometimes not sometimes um all the time the Southern Mindanao carries the northern Mindanao areas that are not covered by Western Mindanao and Caraga We also established two Extension offices in Tondo Manila and Lipa Batangas in 2023 we're able to cater to 9776 beneficiaries Out Of The 670 300 target as of June 30 this year we have Served as of June 30 this year we have Served 6848 out of the 1 1,620 target beneficiaries and for 202 25 we target to cater 1,139 244 beneficiaries for fiscal year 2023 the ovp was able to achieve its targets for the outcome and output indicators from a target of 6703 benef the ovp was able to serve 9776 beneficiaries across all ovp services Which is 45% higher than target from a target of 400 the ovp was able to establish or strengthen 793 strategic partnerships from an 85% target for percentage of requests acted upon with standard processing time and percentage of projects with partners implemented as planed the ovp achieved 98 and 100% respectively for the percentage equivalent of average satisfaction ratings for ovp services the ovp was able to achieve 97% satisfaction rating 7 percentage points higher than the 90% target the ovp was able to achieve its target number of ceremonial engagements completed out of the 2.4 billion budget in 2023 2.3 billion was utilized resulting to an obligation rate of 92% and 2.1 billion was dispersed which is equivalent to a 93% disbursement rate for the current year we are on track to achieve all our targets under physical performance the ovp holds a distinct position in our bureaucracy as the second highest office in the land the ovp carries out functions that complement the work of other government agencies while advancing the wellbeing of every Filipino with a mission to deliver efficient accessible And responsive public service our work resonates at the core of the nation's welfare and progress shukran Madam ch Uh that ends the presentation of the ovp Maraming Salamat madam Vice President at this point I'd like to inform the body that the budget sponsor for the office of the vice president is the honorable Zia alonto Adong so we we will now begin interpellation bago ang lahat gusto ko lang sana ipaalala sa mga miyembro at sa ating kagalang-galang na bisita na ang tatalakayin natin ngayong araw ay ang budget ng ah Office of the vice president at ang ah usaping paggastos ng ah ah opisina ng ating pangalawang pangulo So um also considering that um reports um if you wish to propound questions on confidential funds and expenses um we request the members to be circumspect in disclosing information and details of operations that may affect National Security public Order and public safety right and of course a usual reminder that Uh each of you would have only five minutes and that the is responses of our Resource persons would not be included in those so Our first to interpolate would be from the minority we have our deputy minority leader Fr Castro Thank you mad ch Thank you Madam Madam chair recn yes yes yes Pres I would like to forg the opportunity to defend the budget in a question and answer format I will leave it up to the house to decide on the budget submitted Madam Vice President we have 17 members listed for interpellation and as you know you've been here many times for our budget briefing that This is an important part of the budget briefing um the gaa the general appropriations act is arguably the most important piece of legislation every year at Kasama po ito ang pagtatanong at pakikinig po sa sagot po ninyo ay napakaimportante pong input sa amin pong trabaho So yun po kami po ay We will proceed to ask questions um Madam chair my answer for every question will be I will forgo the opportunity to defend the budget of the office of the vice president through a question and answer and I will leave it to the house to decide on the budget submitted so magsasayang tayo ng oras dito paulit-ulit yung sagot that is acceptable to us unless i hear objection that is acceptable to us because it is I Believe kapatin din po karapatan din po ng bawat Pilipino na marinig po nila ang katanungan po ng 17 po na nakalista sa ngayon Palagay ko kung meron pong dadating dito Baka dumagdag po pero marami pong issues na hinaharap po tayo ngayon Kayo po mismo nakikinig po kami sa inyong ah ah speech po kanina Kahit na hindi po siya related po sa ating budget um Marami pong na- spark na mga tanong kaya Palagay ko kaya nga sinabi ko kanina i-limit natin ang mga tanong tungkol sa budget So yun po So kung kayo po ay binigyan po namin ng pagkakataon na i-share po ang insights eh kami rin po ay magsasabi din po ng aming mga katanungan so with that the deputy minority leader may now proceed with all respect I will not repeat my question every my answer every time there is a question May i seek permission that every time there is a Question that is my answer Madam chair I will call you and you can do as you please Madam chair but I will recognize you Okay and then Madam chair may I be given the opportunity To Explain why I will not and I will forgo the opportunity to defend the budget in a question and answer in the committee and leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the budget submitted Madam Cher order kasi po tapos na ang presentation time kanina so that was the opportunity for the Resource person para magsalita So now we have formally enter the interpellation period so mas mainam po na Pakinggan na ng vice presidente ang tanong ng ating mga house members Tama po So um I the chair agrees with the honorable Manuel um We will proceed with Uh the question and Excuse me Madam ch wa order um Please wait to be recognized sir So um We will proceed Madam ch um and what is your point of Order May we know the rule on which your point of Order is based the honorable botia May we know the rule on which their point of Order is based Uh because the vice president already manifested that Uh kindly sir present the rule so we can rule accordingly What is the rule on which your point of Order What is the point of Order first and the rule on which This is B What's the point of Order also of Congressman Raul if you will question me my point of Order you have also to question the point of Order of Congressman Raul so we will make the honorable Manuel repeat his point of order and the rule because this is clear based on the rules that we approved during our first um hearing relating to the budget so please um repeat that ah Madam chair ang point of order natin ay bata yun sa paano ang ah rules of procedure natin sa committee on appropriations na after mag-present ng ating mga Resource persons they are given time kung may slide sila may video sila speech sila nasa kanila po iyon and after that ay magpoproseso ngite Madam ch yes and Madam chair So um um Excuse me Madam Vice President There's a point of Order that was raised so we have to first rule on that so there is a procedure that we have to follow Madam may I just say that This is not part of the presentation This is an explanation of my answer no But there is a point of Order which we will have to first decide upon Pasensya na po so What so there's So um are you objecting to the ruling of the chair the honorable so we so yes so we have taken note of the point of Order which we have accepted and at this point the chair Rules that we shall proceed so the honorable Fran Castro may now proceed with her interpellation have the floor Ma'am so ah Madam chair siguro first observation no yung on the budget for the 2024 ah yyung vice president na nagsabi Mr Madam chair na slow and low utilization So nakita naman natin doon sa presentation so Iyung utilization ay napaka napakababa pero syempre comment ko lang no mas mabilis siya sa confidential funds 100% in 11 days Madam chair so Uh Madam chair so according to the utilization of the Confidential and intelligence fund submitted by the kaa Uh to the to us no so we can um we have here surveillance and monitoring sabihin ko lang Madam chair no yung purchase of information out of 125 million confidential funds in 2022 purchase of information 14 million payment of reward 10 million rental and other incidental expenses relative to the maintenance of Safe houses 16 million purchase of supplies 35 million provision of medical and food aid 40 million payment of incentives or traveling relative to Uh confidential confidential operations 10 million so a total of 125 million conducted surveillance in 132 areas in 11 days so 100% utilization Madam chair I have also here a report about the notice of this allowance according to the notice of this allowance the coad is allowed 73 milon 27,000 out of 125 million confidential funds by the ovp in 2022 So this is 58.6 of the 125 million So can you can you confirm the vice president mam Vice President p share since you allowed her a SM comment you will allow me a SM comment as well so my question is can you confirm Yes Yeah okay ba okay Yes madam ch So may i before you proceed May i remind both our guests and Our Resource her to When She said the line di ba i call your attention Madam chair you did not recognize me So ngayon sasabihin ko na if you allowed her that you allowed me a snide comment as well I did not I don't recall hearing a snide comment Madam Vice President ang Uh snide comment That's a matter of judgment so please proceed with secar I would like the secretaria to repeat the first three lines of the comments well a point of Order Madam chair point of Order Madam chair kasi parang so let's Please proceed with the answer point of Order Madam chair kasi parang siya yyung nagpe-pray kasi inutusan mo secretariat na na Yes madam Vice President Please proceed with a response There's a question please proceed with the response Madam chair I do not understand Bakit a person convicted of child abuse is still sitting in a seat point of natin angang usapan sa ating budget hearing kung nagawa po niya yan sa senado Madam hindi natin yan pahintulutan dito sa camera you allowed her as night Comment and then you will not allow Please wait com Excuse me our members and Our guest Please wait Please wait to be acknowledged Before you speak Okay so at this point um honorable Manuel Madam chair Uh again It's another point of Order kasi ah kapag may mga deliberasyon tayo we should Stick to the topic Hindi pwede Madam chair na dina-danica ah argumento na hindi naman tumutumbok d sa topic natin So President question please make your responses direct to the Sige Ma'am I will this will make this Easy for you what rules are we using for this budget hearing we have our rules Yes ma'am adopted by the committee and appropriations right Okay Uh we searched for that Uh rule so we only found the um the general rules so me we have a copy of the rules for ano the budget Hearings well as far as I'm concerned mas importante ang rules para sa amin Kayo po ang kailangan niyo lang marinig is yung Acknowledgement for you to begin to speak Yun lang po ang pinakaimportante para sa guests Sa totoo lang po Ma'am so ang pinakaimportante Yes you may proceed at saka po yung adjournment yun lang po yung yung termination po yun ang pinakaimportante lang po for for the rules yun ay importante para sa members but we may provide the copy to you ma so please and answer the question request a copy yes yes Absolutely but please there is a question and do you want us to repeat the question and we will not penalize you on the time I don't you can repeat the facts from the notice of this allowance hon Fr Yes honorable francez Castro you may repeat your question on the notice of this allowance I Believe yeah tama Mr Madam chair so according to kaa the notice of this allowance is amounted to 73 million 27,000 out of 125 at ito po madam chair yyung mga Breakdown ng mga disallowed na mga ano no ah ng mga purchases so reward payment of 10 payment of rewards various goods 34.87 million payment of rewards medicines 2.93 million tables chairs desk computer and printers 3.5 million So um ang question Madam chair So yung letter a b and C So nakita naman natin nandoon yung sa joint joint circular UM How about yung ito no um How about yung mga tables chairs desktop computer na umabot po ito sa 3.5 million So pwede bang maipaliwanag kung ah Bakit ito pinurchase Madam ch Madam Vice President Madam chair I still request for the rules of the budget earings Okay gusto m sagutin ko ma'am Yes madam This is a hearing the Bud 2025 Nasaan dito ang confidential funds yung tanong ni Nasaan dito yung continuing ano ko pa to continuing questions pa natin noong 2020 for during the last budgets hindi naipaliwanag itong 125 million na alam naman natin na Wala ito sa budget ng 2 so ito Madam ch sa rule naman natin lahat ng lahat dito tinatanong eh so according to the budget Whether it is in the past kasi nakikita natin yung utilization Noong mga budget kahit na yung past years ay pwede nating busisiin dito Madam chair tama ba ako Madam chair I will agree with you honorable Fran Castro you may proceed yun yung sagot ko ma'am naaan ang topic natin dito at ang pina-sulong di ba the discussion should be germ to the topic the topic is it 2025 budget proposal Now tell me madam President the honorable trans Castro has already provided a sufficient explanation for Why she asked the question so please proceed with your answer Madam ch very Why are we discussing the budget of 2023 and 2024 honorable Friends Castro So kung ayaw niyang sagutin Madam chair so let me go through na lang with our with my question kasi related naman ito remember Madam chair kines natin ito noong last year at yung 125 million na ito ay hindi ito maipaliwanag no dahil nga Confidential eh no nagtago sa word na confidential at ngayon Kailangan nating maipaliwanag at it is in the interest of the people ah yong 125 million na ito Madam Cher Kaya kailangan ito na maano no mabusisi at kailangan natin itong kailangan ito maipaliwanag ng ovp kaya hindi kayo pwedeng questionin ng mga rules questionin ng mga topic etc dahil related din naman talaga ito sa budget Madam chair mam share mam shair Yes you may proceed I request that the chair person of the Finance committee Preside over this hearing Madam Vice President with due respect you have you are not allowed to do that Madam Vice President you are not allowed to introduce any motion You are a research person Madam President I requested I requested your Resource person I requested Madam Vice President Just please answer the question issue on confidential funds Falls squarely within our discussion of your 2025 budget narinig mo yung sinabi niya Ma'am narinig mo nakikinig ka sa kanya kanina Walang rules rules dito please proceed and answer the question It's a very simple question ' ba Please explain the specific spending on those items that she enumerated amount to a total of honorable Fr Do you want to a total of 73 287 milon so dahil may notice of this allowance So ibig sabihin Madam chair illegal ito at in not not in accordance with our with the joint circular by the coa dbm and other related agencies So kung ito ay dinis allow So ibig sabihin illegal yung paggamit nito Madam ch Nong mga items na binanggit ko po you canot allow a member of the house to just claim that it is illegal of this allow this allowance procedure inside the Commission on audit hindi sa upuan niya honorable friends okay Thank you madam chair so thank you for the explanation um President Okay next according to accomplishment report of obp it spent 10 million for payment of reward so Madam Madam chair in 11 days Ilang tao kaya At magkano kada tao ang reward in fact Cad is allowed the whole amount spent by obp for payment of reward h ba Madam chair question questionable ito Madam chair the invitation letter that we receiv from the house of representatives dear Vice President toed the house committee on appropriations will briefings Hearings on the budget proposals of various departments agencies and corporations relative to the fiscal year 2025 National expenditure program as a basis of the fiscal year 2025 general appropriations bill n Saan sa presentation ko kanina ang haba ang confidential fanss honorable Fr Castro can we request our technical people to fix the mic naka can everybody check their mices and make sure that switch off para maka switch on yung si France meron na ako meron na add add even ngata to na lang Madam chair point of order lang ulit Madam chair kasi Kailangan lang nating ma-establish ah I would assume Hindi naman po pinanganak kahapon ang ating resource practice po natin sa house na para po tayo ay makapagal ng budget na pino-propose para sa susunod na fiscal Year chine-check natin paano din gumagastos yung mga ahensya even in the current Year and in the past year also Madam chair section 162 rulings as precedents rulings on questions raised by members shall form part of the parliamentary practice of the house at practice po natin since time immemorial na hindi lang po ang proposed budget yung tinatalakay kasi yung performance ay dapat bahagi din ng discussion yun lang Madam chair goad hon Fr could you Kindly check if your mic works okay Ah thank you um ah Thank you madam chair so Ah so yun po noo yung sinasabi natin kanina yung payment ng reward um the the Resource person can answer this questionable ah tingin ko ay questionable ito it okay so next according to the accomplishment report isa sa pinaggamitan ng ovp ng confidential funds ay Iyung provision of medical and food aid This is not allowed under the joint circular number 2015-01 dahil Kailan pa naging confidential fund Ang pagbibigay ng ayuda or kung ito naman ay ginamit sa mga um mga ginamit na tao o informat in 11 days So paano Kaya ginamit itong 40 million na ito no para sa medical and food aid in 11 days ah Madam chair so so yun yung tanong ko kung hindi ito ginamit doon sa ah sa sa mga aids um medical aid or food aid pero paano kaya Madam Cher ginamit itong 40 million na ito as a medical and food aid ng ilang tao in 11 days So yun po yung tanong natin ah Madam chair Madam Vice President Madam ch the subject of this hearing is the obp 2025 budget proposal we do not have an item of confidential funds in the ovp budget proposal h friend so i continue Madam chair isa sa sa bumubukol na confidential fund ng obp nung 2022 ay nasabi ko na madam chair yung medical and food aid at saka iyung mga purchase of supplies according to the accomplishment report the obp spent 40 million no for medical and food aid in 11 days so ang ibig sabihin nito Madam chair um konting Math pumapatak na 3.64 million kada araw ang gastos no para sa food and medical aid so hindi natin maintindihan Madam ch Paano ito ginastos in 11 days 3.64 million kada araw dito sa UM item na ito com did not call you I did not call you ma it was representative we would like to remind both source persons and the members to Please wait to be acknowledged Before you speak Yes ma'am as soon Yes two respond so any comment ah Madam chair doon sa sinabi natin based on sa accomplishment report at So kung gagamitan natin ng konting ma 3.64 million kada araw ang gastos para sa medical and food for 11 days for How many people ba itong ito Madam chair the the topic in the invitation of the house of representatives to the office of the vice president for this hearing is the 2025 budget proposal there is no confidential funds in the 2025 budget proposal for for the information of the body the letter that we sent our Madam Vice President reads as follows um in the second paragraph um we noted the following topics to be discussed um item number three is comparative Budget allocation and utilization rate from fiscal year 2019 to 202 TH that's item number three so I can provide you copies of the letter so clearly confidential funds spent in 2022 fall squarely within that so yes honorable francy may proceed Yes ah Madam chair so Mukhang hindi na tayo sasagutin ng ano no hindi Tay hindi na ako sasagutin ng ating Vice President so sa bawat sagot kasi na ganyan ng ating vice president ah for the record since ayaw magpaliwanag ang BP So ibig sabihin nito Yung paggastos ng 125 million ay na na na pera ng taong bayan ay hindi maipaliwanag So yun lang Madam chair kaya hinihiling natin sa Vice President o ovp na kailangan kailangan na maipaliwanag Itong mga ah sinasabing item dito Anyway Madam chair sa kanila naman ang galing no yong ah utilization of confidential and intelligence fund and of course Ito lang naman ang hawak ko din dito yung notice of this Allowance Kaya gusto talaga nating maintindihan Madam chair kung ang notice of this allowance ay sa Syempre papaliwanag pa nila yan kung paano ' ba So kailangan malaman din ng taong bayan na sila yung nagano no nagbibigay ng pondo para sa operations ng ovp at lahat ng mga agency at kailangan niyang maipaliwanag so hindi pwede ung gyan naung tactics na ganyan na parang ano parang Sorry for the pusit na kapag nasusukol na ang pusit a nagan ngi na tinta ayaw natin ng Gan Madam ch kasi yung atin namang pinaguusapan dito ay budget naman magaling Pit ang Office of the vice president Madam may point of information only mad ch May i Madam ch no sorry wait before before you I'd like to before we proceed to the next person on the list I believe that our former President Gloria makapagal Roy would like to observation made in relation to the point of Order because in the beginning it was settled that the isue would be the 2025 Budget and in our hearing to what i call Uh when we want to question something about performance we question the 2024 budget not the 2023 budget What is being question is the 2023 budget which was discussed very Uh extensively last year and that is the reason why the house removed the confidential funds so that issue has already been to my mind for purposes the budget hearing L to rest So that's my observation Madam chair we know that Uh um Madam former President but of course we know that Um yung pong pondo ng 2023 ay of course pwede pa ring maging continuing appropriation hanggang 2024 so in the same way 2022 pwedeng maging continuing pa rin 2023 at Alam din po natin um last year pinagbati po natin natin ng matindi itong 2022 confidential funds and in fact um we left a homework for the coa sinabi natin sa kanila na kailangan nilang tapusin ang audit by November I Believe mid November of last year and since then hindi na natin alam kung anong nangyari So that's the reason for Why um tinatalakay natin ito and Uh It's a big amount of money I Believe Uh we owe it to the people to understand uh what happened of course tinanggal na natin nung 2024 gusto natin malaman Tama ba yung ginawa natin kasi baka naman nagkamali tayo so I I think it's worth assessing Um what we did in 2024 in order to know what to do in 2025 um so with that I let's proceed with Our next inter May May i is is this um just a point of Order not a point of Order but Uh just Uh um you you may wish to you may wish to be um unless it's a point of Order you may wish to be listed I can put you here sir a parliamentary inquiry Madam chair Yes you parliamentary inquiry Uh May I ask if Uh the Resource person is required to answer a Question that is related to a Commission on audit Uh notice of this allowance when she already said she's not going to answer also the notice of this allowance is addressed to the office of the vice president and just to make it clear a notice of this allowance is not a judgment It is a request it is an order from the Commission on audit for the particular office to explain what are the particulars at saka hindi na yan legislation side that is already on the ability side in the budget cycle so my parliamentary inquiry Madam ch is that nagsabi na nga siya na hindi sasagot and it is related to the coa a notice of this allowance and just sinabi na rin ni former President it was TH discussed in the previous year in fact tinanggal lang tinanggal sa budget ng 2024 yung confidential fund and we know that there's a pending case on that also to discuss that fther might Uh somehow prejudice or be bias whatsoever So yun lang po madam Cher All right Salamat um on your inquiry the only requirement is to provide a direct response um on the question meaning to say a response that is directly related to the question meaning to say kung may question at ayaw niyo pong sagutin sagutin niyo ng diretsahan na hindi po ako sasagot doun sa tanong ang problema po kasi ang response ay naging hindi related doun sa tanong halimbawa may tanong ang sagot ay paglalarawan doon sa nagtanong so hindi naman yun klaro na hindi iyon um directly related doon sa tanong kaya yun po I think it's a reasonable ask if there's a question you may or may not answer you're not compelled but you just please say I do not wish to answer that's it At least we know it's a direct response and with that we move to the next person on the list um this hindi na po tayo matatapos yan ang sinabi ko SAO kanina ayaw mong maniwala sa akin eh aabot talaga tayo ng bukas dito di ba Madam share this an inquiry regarding said Yes And please i remind also our Res persons to please Act in a respectful manner Pasensya na po Um Hindi po kasama sa poder ninyo ang pagpa-file [Musika] that somebody is convicted of child abuse sitting and the Chair and then I cannot fire the presiding chair So bakit Yes bakit napaka one sided nito po Dahil ba madami kayo diyan sa kabila at nag-iisa ako dito we note all your comments Ma'am and let us now proceed Thank you Thank you ma Madam ch point of Order Yes Hon I just came in i hear this We're not talking about the budget we're accusing each other here I'd like to find out from the Resource speaker If This is the kind of hearing that we're going to have sir I am not the presiding officer of this hearing I know Yes sir but The thing is asking questions Madam ch the speaker does not have any right to ask question or do you have Where is that Madam in Rules that a budget hearing request for some order please some order please Yes honorable Ben bante may proceed I'm just asking a question to our Resource speaker You know because she's asking a question and she's a using some of the members of this committee I just would like to find out if we are the ones that have the right to ask questions and her right is to answer the questions of the committee po saakin yung point of Order Madam ch you understand me Vice President Am I right no sir I'm going to ask the the chair to ask you to clarify What are my accusation pleas to be recognized ma'am na po so again i' like remind um our Resource persons that you are here you're invited um to answer to present and youve done that thank you very much and at this point in time you're here to respond to the questions of our members and we request you to please respond in a direct way so with that I'd like to recn from the majority hon milagroso Magsaysay you have the FL Ma'am Thank you madam ch Magandang hapon po sa ating lahat Sa ating committee chairperson at sa aking mga kasama sa Kongreso at Gan din po sa ating mga panin mula sa ovp sa pangunguna ng ating Vice President sar Duterte Carpio at iba pang sangay ng gobyerno Madam Cher Meron lang po akong dalawang maikling katanungan na nais kong mabigyan ng Linaw ang una ay nais kong itanong sa ovp kung meron po bang mga programa ang inyong opisina patungkol sa ating mga minamahal na Senior citizens at kung meron po Pwede po bang paki furnish ang aking office ng listahan para naman po alam ko kung ano po ang sasabihin ko sa aking mga senior citizen na pakinabangan naman sa office of the vice president pangalawa po sa kaa Nais ko pong itanong para po sa mga hindi masyadong nakakaunawa pakipaliwanag po kung ano ba ang ibig sabihin ng notice of this allowance at Ano po ba ang ibig sabihin kung ang iyong opisina ay mabigyan nito Yan lang po madam Cher at muli Magandang hapon po sa lahat Salamat um let's Begin with the first question Madam Vice President Madam chair um we do not Uh distinguish we do not distinguish for the recipients of our projects Uh Senior citizens can readily avail of the medical and burial assistance the magnegosyo to day and other um projects of the ovp including the um kalusugan food trucks during calamities and the Libreng sakay so Ma'am hindi po kami nag-exit welcome po sila lahat sa mga projects ng office of the vice president Salamat ah Madam Vice President So pwede kong sabihin sa aking mga senior citizens na pwede silang mag-avail ng medical assistance and financial assistance Yes ma'am of course and then we do have the senior citizen express Lane Ma'am for senior citizens sa aming mga opisina your second question Ma'am is the notice of Vice President I believe that that was addressed ako po inano yyung question which means um the ch recognizes our assistant commissioner Alexander rano sir Madam chair Good afternoon ang notice of this allowance po ay ang ibig sabihin niya um Hindi pwede iung expenditure kasi either irregular unnecessary excessive extravagant or unconscionable pero hindi po nangahulugan na ah pagka may notice of this allowance ay yun na yung final kasi meron pong meron pa pong appeal process sa Commission hanggang Hindi po na-resolve ng Commission proper yan doon po masasabi talaga na yyung ground ng notice of this allowance ay tama pero meron pa rin pong karapatan ng persons liable na magapa sa Supreme Court po ang final determination po doon sa notice of this allowance of the Supreme Court Ah so Ibig sabihin po nito kung may notice of this allowance po ay ibig sabihin hindi tama yung paggastos ng pondo Ganun po ba yon yun po yung naging evaluation nung auditor na nag-ud po ng um transaction Salamat po That's all Madam chair Thank you very much Salamat next interpolate from the minority we have the honorable Arlene process Thank you madam chair Madam chair um First of all Madam chair I would like to ask that Uh the it be stricken from the record you Talks about issues related to the case of Uh Congresswoman France Castro because it is not related in the budget hearing Madam chair honorable bras could you please introduce the appropriate motion Yes madam chair um I move that it be stricken of the record the um the issues pertaining or related to the um Uh case of honorable Franz Castro which was um which was Uh said by the Resource person Madam chair is there an objection hearing none the obje Madam ch What is the objection is it is is a fact that there was a conviction period Madam ch and Uh Yes madam chair um I believe it is not related to the briefing and it is being appealed right now so Madam chair Wala po tayo sa disposisyon Para pag-usapan yun dito and Madam chair ang hinihiling ko lang ay tanggalin yyun sa record Madam Chair and it is very um Uh I think it is reasonable to ask that of the committee Madam chair right given that there is an objection um we divide house um Uh before we divide house Uh the honorable Gloria makapagal mam chair before before on my part Before I can decide on whether I will agree or or or join the objection Uh I've not heard of this case before can we know a little bit more about this case um Madam chair Yeah Alvarez Uh I believe that This is not the proper forum to discus the case so but over so Uh with all respect um Madam Madam ch makapagal Yes Uh I just want to make motion m ch Just Just in line with the office of the vice president talking about the case of Fran Castro and Our honorable Aren rosas once sten once that all the records about the Uh utterances be deleted from this hearing I also move Madam ch that yung Atan ni Franz Castro na illegal yung disbursement hindi siya dapat ang magpaliwanag noong illegal so I want to have that sten of the record Thank you madam chair can i explain why I voted The explanation Madam chair you know Madam chair I have been in the Cong this Congress for a long time exp mam This is very relevant relevant relevant just give me a few minutes you know I have been in this Congress for a long time even in the plenary even in the committee hearing kapag sinabi Moen of the record nandyan pa rin yung words ilyan lang ng underline parang icross ba So nababasa pa rin y Kaya nga sabi ko i Strike mo from the rec or not nandyan pa rin yung words hindi y mawala the records it says for example what you say clud bti is handsome and you want to say you want to strike that from the record i-cross lang and still there you noted and as we vote you can take note of the observation of the honorable s so those in favor of the motion please Raise Your Hands to to Strike to Strike out the incess in relation to the case Yeah Madam chair Madam chair clarificatory Just to be clarified there was a prior motion to Strike of the records utterances in relation to the alleged case of the honorable Franz Castro There Was another motion I believe to also Strike of the record the no no no we do it we do it request the chair to Um reate okay so there is a motion introduced by the by irlene Brosas could you please ma Madam chair May i move the the um issues and um the words pertaining to the specifically to the case of honorable francez Castro be stricken of the record it was Uh Uh it was made or the utterances were made by the specifically by the vice president Madam share so those in favor of the motion again to delete Raise Your hand and the committee secretary kindly take note of the votes those are not in favor of the motion this time please Raise Your Hands so the vote 46 those in favor 46 those not in favor two so the motion is carried Sorry those those not in favor three so with that the motion is carried Madam ch There Was motion and there is a second motion introduced by the honorable Jose Alvarez could you kindly motion Madam ch is to strike the records the utterances of our honorable Fr Castro about the illegality of the the way that Thea Uh reported the nda and as far as she is concerned She is not the final judge on whether that notice of allowance already final or not Thank you um Madam chair May i explain yes so sinabi ko po madam ch kanina on the comment on the notice of the Miss allowance worth 73.57 million sinabi ko po ito po ay illegal ah in accordance with the joint circular at Tama naman ah Tama naman po no Kasi hindi too umuuga tumutugma doon sa mga letters according to the joint circular So yun po yung tinutukoy ko ah Madam Cher Hindi ko naman sinasabing wala naman po akong binanggit na final na ito no ah sinabi lang natin na hindi ito ah in accordance with the joint circular Madam ch Thank you po and honorable alv is that the statement that you wish to be stricken off the record Yeah with the ones that she said that is illegal because the notice of this allowance Uh the office of any office any government office has the right to appeal The decision of the kaa and before the exit conference on the appeal could be Uh formulated Uh there is nobody guilty of any offense i second the motion Madam chair Madam chair was it objected to the motion of Representative Alvarez kas see we can only go proceed with the voting If there is Is there any objection Is there any objection to the motion of the honorable alv yes I'd like to explain me objection I think Uh nasa ano na po yun Nasa task ng ating committee secretariat to accurately quote and put kung ano talaga ang nasabi nung ating Colleague so ah yun na po ang magiging batayan and it's up to the members of the house and the public to appreciate kung ano iyung mga nasabi But I believe that the topic is really connected to our Uh discussion right now which is how the ovp used its Budget and how it to will use is future budget mam ch one minut suspension while we produce a transcript so I can read the exact statement right one minute suspension the budget briefing is here by Res so the transcript shows the following statement by honorable francez Castro and I go so dial may notice of this allowance ang ibig sabihin Madam ch illegal ito at not in accordance with the joint circular with the coa dbm and the related agencies So yun po ang nasabi na statement kung saan may word na illegal so the honorable Alvarez What is your pleasure I still insist on removing that utterances dahil nagpainit lang sa ating mga Resource person chair including the yung pusit Tanggalin mo na yan diyan para walang maginit dito para tuloy-tuloy na yung discusion natin thank you Okay so those in favor of the motion to Strike Strike of the word illegal and pus Raise Your Hand 11 and those not in favor Raise Your Hand so the those in favor 13 13 those not in favor 15 so the objection the motion is overruled yes I also would like to make a motion that we Strike on the record the statement of device President nung sinabi niya marami kayo dito ako nag-iisa lang I there move that the statement be taken out the record I saw mo any objection Madam ch This is not an objection ah we are outnumbered however May i make this statement that kahit itanggal Yan You can look back at the records makikita pa rin kasi As I have said earlier whatever sentence or sentences paragraph ilalagy langan out Mababasa pa rinan ng future generations you You made everyone point yeson sor i step out to go to the restroom earlier and there was a voting already being counted by the comsec and the motion was to Strike out if I may recall it earlier when Congressman pong Alvarez mov that the most the the words illegal and the Pit should be striked out from the record Madam chair I am the sponsor of the proposed bu for the ovp and Uh personally I do not Uh I'm really sad sadden by the way this committee deliberation is developing and progressing there have been so many words that are not supposed to be said in this committee deliberation I hope for decorum proper decorum I hope for respect we don't need to like each other But we have to maintain respect between one another so I my vote is because I want a clean record where no words that would violate the decorum of this committee proceedings I move that i i vote for the striking out of the words Pit and the word illegal from the record Mr chair let it be counted on the record Madam chair so for the final t Madam ch I request a coms to please update the counting Thank you and the count is I Believe 15 not in favor and 14 Sorry 14 Yes 15 not in favor and 14 in favor So um the motion is overruled but thank you very much Uh the honorable Adong for reminding us on how we should all behave it goes for all members as well as our guests today Amen sir we've heard you loud and clear so Salamat um Our next motion mad Yes Sorry um Is there any objection to the motion introduced by the honorable Ben bante hearing none the motion is carried I would like also to manifest that I voted to Strike to Strike the statement of my colleagues on the vice president like you to know that thank you so the next interpolate is the from the minority we have the honorable Irene Brosas Yes Thank you madam chair Madam chair um I have very simple questions Madam chair I hope the VP can answer this um can thep confirm that it requested and was granted the amount 125 million for the confidential expenses for 2022 despite having no provision for a line item on confidential funds Madam chair Madam Vice President Madam chair that is the subject of supreme court cases Madam chair Please proceed Yes Yes madam ch ang tanong ko lang po ay simple no kung may provision kung may line item o wala so Madam chair kung hindi po sinasagot I will go on to my Next question mai rin bang kumpirmahin ng ovp na ang 125 million confidential funds na ni-request nito noong 20 ay ginamit lamang mula December 21 Hanggang December 31 2022 Madam ch Madam Vice President Madam chair that is a subject of supreme court cases Yes madam ch obviously ayaw tayong sagutin Madam ch um kas Madam sh pera ng taong bayan nito Madam ch Yun po yung nakalagay dito at karapatan na malaman nito ng bawat isa sa atin Madam sh It is a matter of public interest At humihingi po tayo ng transparency and accountability kaugnay dito Madam ch so Madam ch kung hindi po sasagutin yung two questions bakaan third madamag report utilization of confidential and intelligence funds ng ovp ginamit ang 125 million para sa safe implementation of ovp initiatives and confidence building Ano itong safe implementation of ovp initiatives and confidence building Ano po yung programa sa ilalim nito Madam chair Madam Vice President Madam chair the first two questions are exactly the questions that were submitted Uh to the Supreme Court The supreme court is Supreme Court is the correct venue to answer those questions because there are pending cases there already sa pangatlong tanong niya that is our answer nakalagay doon sa aking opening statement we cooperate with all the audit actions of the Commission on audit it so lahat yan sinasagot namin sa tamang venue kines kami sa Supreme Court sumagot kami sa Supreme Court kines kami sa kaa sumagot kami sa kaa Yes Thank you madam Cher no precisely kaya ko po tinatanong to madam share If you remember we requested actually hindi nga kami nag-request eh ah ah nag-request kami na isabi na doon sa stay yyung audit report because we would like to be aais doon sa nilalaman Madam chair kaya po tayo nagtanong and since the the VP is saying na merong Supreme Court May we have a copy Madam chair of the Supreme Court no na kanilang ah kaso Madam chair Pwede ba yon sh of course not I am not the Supreme Court they should request doon sa Supreme Court to honorable eileen Brosas proceed please Thank you madam chair obviously ayaw tayong sagutin no kaugnay sa ating mga hiling at sa ating mga katanungan Madam Sher um dapat po masagot tayo no very specific kung ano yung ginawa no sa pera ng tao bayan kasi pera ng taong bayan to eh madam chair um kasi Madam chair sa accomplishment report na ipinasa ng ovp sa loob lamang ng December 21 to 31 2022 gumastos ang ovp ng first 14 million para sa purchase of information 10 million para sa payment ng reward 16 million para sa rental of incidental expenses para sa maintenance ng safe houses 35 million para sa purchase ng supplies 40 million para sa medical and food aid 10 million para sa incentives or traveling relative to the confidential operations so Madam chair joint circular number 20150 ng coa dbm DILG GCG dnd na naglalaman ng guidelines on the entitlement release use reporting and audit of confidential or intelligence funds hindi kasama sa paggagamitan ng confidential funds ang medical at food aid kaya Saan ginamit ng ovp ang 40 million para sa medical and food aid ito ay pinakamalaking confidential funds budget na nilaan ng ovp kaya po dapat sagutin Tayo no ng ovp kaugnay dito Madam chair Madam Vice President Yes madam chair in my opening statement we said on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing audit Please proceed honorable process I am reiterating Madam chair na ayon sa 4.0 general guidelines number 48 the CF or the confidential fund shall be used only for the following purchase of information necessary for the formulation and implementation of program activities and projects relevant to the national secur and peace order peace and order so Madam chair Ito po yung nilalabag non Madam chair Madam chair rental of transport vehicles rentals and incidental expenses purchase of rental or supplies 4.85 payment of rewards and cover prevent illegal activities 4.87 others na authorize ng gaa Madam chair So yun lang ang pinapayagan at wala po doon ang medical and food aid Madam chair Madam ch um sa Next question ko po sa date ng liquidation report date na lang to ha date na lang ng liquidation report ng ovp Madam chair para sa period ng December 21 to 31 2022 sinubmit ito noong January 10 2023 but the verification ah but the certification date was January 10 2022 at nariz ito ng January 16 20 23 Maaari po bang ipaliwanag ito ng ovp Madam chair do you mean January 10 2023 January January 10 n notarize ng January 16 2023 Yes Yeah Madam Vice President ah Madam chair I will forg the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal question and answer I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the 2025 budget hon br proceed Madam Cher ayaw tayo sagutin Madam Cher e hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit tayo ayaw sagutin napakasimple po ng mga tanong natin it is about dates it is about confirming yyung mga dates Madam chair so ayaw tayo sagutin at in in sa harap no ng publiko ang publiko ko po ay may karapatang malaman ito kaya po tayo nag-ugnay dito Madam chair This is about transparency and accountability and it doesn't exempt the office of the vice president no Madam chair Madam chair Yes madam Vice President She may not like my answer She may not like how I answer She may not like the content of my answer but I am answering I do not have answer to her if I want to answer to the people that Madam Vice President may proceed hon ang dokumentong ipinasa saal na gobyerno Madam ch I Believe po ang kailangan natin gawin ano sa isang simpleng mamamayan kapag nagk ka ng kahit isa hon nagpapasa tayo ng application kailangan tama ang nakalagay k Madam Vice President isa-isa lang po pwedeng sabihin niyo na hindi ako sumasagot dahil hindi niya gusto yung sagot ko Yes ah isa-isa lang po tayong magsasalita so yes honorable bred and continue Thank you madam ch Madam chair kailan sinubmit ng ovp ang liquidation report ng 2022 confidential fund sa intelligence and confidential fund audit office ng Commission on audit yan madam chair Siguro naman masasagot tayo ng ovp Madam chair Madam Vice President I will forg the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal my question and answer I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal anable bres proceed please Yes madam chair Simple questions of dates no Madam chair hindi na tayo sinasagot um I don't think so n sasagutin niya tayo sa iba pa so Madam chair let me run down my questions ano sa iba pa um Madam chair ung um pagtanong ko sa kailan sinubmit tapos kung kaya um ibig sabihin Iyung liquidation report na dated January 10 2023 it was only submitted to efo on September 18 2023 and Madam chair pinosas ang confidential funds na ito noong 2022 2022 um tatanungin ko rin sana kung aware ang ovp sa joint circular number 201 501 kindly wind up and Madam chair for the record um kasi Madam Cher ang nakalagay sa item 6.2.2 7 no na ng joint circular all cash advances for CF for the confidential fund or or intelligence fund shall be liquidated at year end Madam chair So yun po Iyung reason kung bakit natin Tinatanong kasi lumagpas ibig sabihin hindi nagko-computer po yung year end niya pero nakita niyo naman January so Madam chair those are Simple questions na kayang-kayang sagutin ng ng ovp but never na sinagot ng ovp Madam chair so Madam Cher sana man lang kaho paligoy-ligoy ano hindi sinagot talaga eh madam Cher Thank you madam sh next to interpolate is Madam share yes yes um Hindi po totoo yung sinasabi ni representative Brosas na hindi ako sumagot hindi sumagot ang Office of the vice president we cooperated with the cases in the Supreme Court there are four cases in the Supreme Court and then we cooperated with all the audit actions of the Commission on audit I will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal Madam sh last lang Madam sh This is Congress mad lang round two um honorable br Yes sasabihin ko lang Madam chair na proper forum ito para malaman natin ang lahat This is a proper forum ang Kongreso po ang Dapat nag-aalangan thank you right so next to interpolate is honorable Mikaela Angela suing Thank you very much madam chair Madam chair my line of questioning would be based on the Uh different documents submitted by the committee on Uh Sorry the Commission on audit and compliance to the sapina DU tecom as well as the accomplishment reports submitted by the office of the vice president um so Madam chair I prepared a few slides for presentation to the committee um Madam chair May I request for the permission of this um committee to show the slides on the screen committee secretary kindly upload Madam chair um given the volume of the documents um I have created this chart to summarize all the pertinent information with regard to all of these um documents summarize across the different quarters um First I would like to highlight um the number of days Uh by which the 125 million pes was spent across the four quarters um in the first Uh quarter it was spent Uh within 11 days that is a period of December 21 to 31 2022 um for the first quarter of 2023 um it was spent in 52 days between February and March 67 days for q2 2023 and 79 days for q q3 2023 and if you average that out Madam chair um as you can see there We're Looking at 11 million 2 million 1 million and another 1 million um for each of the quarters and here Madam chair um I would like to now move to the highlights of the findings of the Commission on audit So Here We will see I I've segmented the one 125 million between the two first is allowed in audit and either dis allowed in audit or questioned in audit so for the first quarter Uh for the fourth quarter of 2022 which is the subject of the notice of this allowance we can see here Madam chair that out of the ph15 million in confidential funds from utilized from December 21 to 31 2022 73 point 287 million um was this allowed in audit by the Commission and audit and I will give the Commission and audit the time as well later to elaborate on that and um 51.7 million was this allowed in audit um rather allowed in audit here Madam chair you would see that across the three um succeeding quarters um the three succeeding quarters while not yet um or not subjected to the notice of this allowance has already received the audit order memorandum with particular finding So Here Madam ch you would see that on average um 53 53% 49% and 28% of the amount in question was subject was questioned by kaa in the succeeding aom so perhaps um Madam ch um I will do that as well it per day um just to contextualize it so for the first Uh for the fourth quarter of 2022 um 6.66 million on average daily was this allowed in audit out of the 11.3 million spent Uh by the ovp between the period of December 21 to 31 um 1.2 million in the next quarter um 925 in the next quarter And 443 in the next quarter so Madam chair I will stop here for now and um throw a question to kaa if I may Madam chair to the assistant commissioner may he please elaborate on the grounds for on for the fourth quarter of 2022 for the disallowance of the 73 million which translate to 58.6 per of the expenditure um May I ask kaa as to the nature of the disallowance and for the the succeeding quarters May we ask kaa Madam chair to elaborate on the nature of the issuance of the questions under the aom Thank you very much madam chair assistant commissioner Juliano you have the floor sir Madam chair um may be allowed to explain my the reason of my Presence in this um budget hearing Yes please Madam chair um may be allowed to explain my the reason of my Presence in this um budget hearing Yes please is in connection with the invit h to our chp cordoba is now attending a Senate Hearing on the revis audit Code of the Philippines and he instructed me to represent him Uh in relation to the sub ised by the committe operations Uh I I would like to explain that um We have a dedicated office that is the intelligence and confidential fund audit unit that um exclus exclusively audits the um intelligence and confidential fund it is not revealed to any other office even my office I am overseeing the special services Sector and local government audit sector TH I could not um Uh give you the details or the specifics about the audit of the disallowance and we already submitted our compliance with the committee and um I'm not the proper person to explain the details of the notice of this allowance Thank you honorable sing Madam chair um the the reasons behind these disallowances and the questions under the aom are detailed in the notice of this allowances and the aom so in the absence of a response from kaa May i quickly highlight Madam chair the highlights of the different documents Please proceed Thank you madam chair for the notice of This allowances the nature pertain in the non-compliance with item 4.8.0 of joint circular number 2015-01 which is the non-submission of documents evidencing success of information Gathering and or surveillance activities um and for the others Madam chair um kaa did not allow the inclusion of rewards um of various goods as supplies as indicated in the men category and um and that is Actually Madam chair very similar across the board you would see that the aom have a very similar nature in terms of the questions posed by kaa it really pertains on the same issues at hand if I may request comsec to Please move to the next slide Yes but you have 30 seconds left Thank you madam chair I will wrap up Yes please um slide three Please um pakilakasan question um there seems to be a pattern Madam chair um here you can see that the categories are the same in terms of expenditure across the different quarters which makes sense given that there's a menu within the joint circular for the different categories Uh through which which the confidential funds may be utilized but two things Madam chair that I would like to highlight highlight here um given that there are differing number of surveillance areas for each of the different periods and the number of days um even though for example kind you wrap up Ah sorry Madam chair my laptop is freezing Uh Uh Madam chair regardless of whether or not the number of areas surveillance is 111 or the upper bound which is 132 the pattern of spending seems to be the same across the different quarters and also the line items questioned by um kaa in terms of Uh as you can see here the ones in orange are the same It's with regard to the payment of rewards the provision of medical and food aid and the payment of incentives and traveling relative to the confidential operation so Madam chair um in this very um heavy slide All I would like to highlight is there seems to be a pattern There's a pattern in terms of expenditure regardless of the amount of work entailed and the pattern as well in terms of question categories on the part of kaa seems to be the same as well and Madam chair just to close Last na talaga Madam chair next slide next slide as well comsec next slide Please um Madam chair just to highlight um in Peso terms in terms of percentages in terms of the notice of this allowance for q4 2022 Siguro po mahalaga for us to contextualize it in terms of peso terms so for q2 a q4 2022 doon po sa pinag-usapan natin na ph15 million in confidential funds na nagastos po in 11 days sa bawat sa bawat ph1 piso po na ibinigay ipinagkatiwala po ng taong bayan sa office of the vice president patungkol po dito sa confidential funds anim na piso po anim na piso sa ph10 yung sa pal lagay po ng kaa ay nagastos sa hindi tamang paraan so mahalaga po madam Cher na makita po yun sa ganong konteksto and looking at the percentages It seems to be the same um in the succeeding quarters um I would not preempt it given that the audit is still ongoing but in q1 2023 that's ph5 out of Php1 for q2 2023 that's Php5 as well out of php10 at sa q3 2023 ay php3 sa Php10 So ganun po madam chair It's important to ask for accountability given the oversight functions of the house as well aside from scrutinizing the budget um making sure that we put the right budget where They're needed It's also the responsibility of the house to exercise oversight and ask for ACC accountability so Madam Sher yun lang po gusto lang po natin siguraduhin na nagagastos po sa tama yung kaban ng bayan Maraming salamat po Salamat madam Vice President order again um do you wish to respond first Madam Vice President or point of Order I think point of Order is more important than the answer I will repeat what I said earlier the subject matter as defined by the chair of this hearing is the 2025 Budget and Yes it is customary to examine the 2024 budget but we are have a very very close and a very very even eloquent examination of the 2022 budget for or 23 budget For which we have already taken action by removing the confidential funds of the vice president in the 2024 budget so i i submit again Madam chair that This is not I mean if we talking about oversight Yes there Is there Is oversight of any house committee but not during the budget hearing of a specific Year's budget so there is a commit on public accountability chaired by Congress and padano so all those are all venues within the house not mention the issue the legal issue of what is already being discussed in the Supreme Court so I I I rais the containing point of Order Madam chair on all of the questions regarding the 2023 budget Thank you ma for your um insights but again Madam ch there is a point of Order please rule on the point of Order we have already Madam It is a mas for the chair to R the chair is Speaking I would like to request members as well to respect um the rul the rul if a point of Order is raised the chair will have to rule the point of Order yes and the point of Order is not to discuss previous years at Kasasabi lang po natin Kaya nga gusto ko pong magsalita kanina po sinabi ko na pinaliwanag ko na po na ang previous years ay napakaimportante po sinabi ko na po Kanina na nung huling plenary debates pinag-usapan po itong 125 million confidential funds inutusan po natin ang kaa na gawin ng audit tapusin ng mid November um Tama ' ba inutusan namin Kayo na tapusin niyo na ng ng mabilis November 2023 tapusin niyo na pero since then hindi pa natin naririnig kung ano ang naging resulta non umaksyon na tayo without even hearing from the coa what the findings were ang naging aksyon natin tinanggal natin from the civilian agencies I think it is important for us to know once for all What happened because that will guide us for moving forward kasi mali ba natin na mali pala ang naging akson natin Iyun ay pinaliwanag ko na and on the basis of that I ruled that we Stick to our plan and Nakasulat po iyan sa lahat ng liham natin sa lahat ng ahensya Hindi lang naman po sa office of the vice president at kung nakikinig po kayo kanina binasa ko po yung item number three which which is comparative Budget allocation and utilization rate from fiscal year 2019 to 2023 lahat po ng mga ahensya Sinabihan po natin na kasama po ang item na to sa pagkilatis po ng proposed budget for 2025 so with that Let us now proceed to our next interpolator from the minority we [Musika] have ring Whether it is taken Not Taken or no ruling I it is not taken and I reiterate the earlier ruling which is not taken so we proceed to the next interpolator the from the minority we have the honorable Raul Madam Sher I'm sorry but we are not Proceeding with unless Yes but But there was a representative who spoke so oh you You to Yes Okay so yes please you may Yes thank you Uh Madam shair It seems that Uh um representative sw sing was well prepared when she came um and she already knew the answers in fact She had this Uh drama to ask the Commission on audit a representative here But when he was not able to answer She had the answer already to her question So um Madam chair May I request that only representatives who have questions be allowed to speak that is not a motion that is a request to you as the presiding officer w namang tanong eh Yes madam Vice President we note your request and with that we move on to our have a question of clarification Yes our honorable you your letter saying that you want Uh the utilization rate for previous years it was not a letter ask you for how the budgets were expanded especially on questions that we as a house decided on already last year Yes um Madam It's say comparative budget allocation so that phase is interpreted Uh as how the Fund was used so I hope that is a sufficient explanation and with that we proceed to our next interpolator from the minority we have the honorable Raul Manuel ah Thank you madam chair Madam chair kaya naman natin to ginagawa dahil bilang mga public officials ah responsibilidad po natin ito sa taong bayan na nanonood po sa atin kung paano natin ginagastos ang pera ng taong Bin Madam chair so as to my question since the vice President also Served as DepEd secretary in fact wala po siyang separate basic salary nung siya ay DepEd secretary kaya Actually intertwine din no tumatagos Iyung role niya as VP and as depend secretary so I have questions Madam chair doon sa Uh confidential funds for 2023 ng Department of Education and if the Resource person would want to answer Andiyan naman po yung opportunity binubukas sa kanya ng camera so madam Cher Uh can we confirm from the vice president na nag-submit ng accomplishment report sa paggamit ng DepEd confidential funds for 2023 sa Senate President at sa speaker of the house Madam Vice President Madam chair the office of the vice president and the Department of Education have separate mandates Uh the roles of the vice president and the secretary of education are not intertwines and Madam chair cannot speak for the Department of Education as I am not the secretary anymore again Madam chair We ah hindi pala DepEd pala ito no O sige tanong mo si DepEd yan honorable Manuel iba na po ang depend secretary natin ngayon na hindi naman nag-request ng confidential fund ang nag-request po noon as the deed secretary ay ang vice president and Madam chair in all agencies lagi ini-invite National Security pag-target doon sa mga ah suspected na mga grupo So yung ganong ah tinake on na mandato Madam chair kahit originally wala naman talaga yan sa ovp tsaka DepEd tinake on ng Resource person Kaya ngayon hindi dapat iwasan e na sagutin din yon given ang tinon na tasks ng Resource person kasi Madam Cher Ah sige kung hindi po niya SAS sagutin sa accomplishment report kasi for the first quarter of 2023 Nabanggit po doon na yung confidential funds ng DepEd ginamit sa counter insurgency program prevention of recruitment by REBEL and leftist groups among students and teachers meron din madam chair anti-terrorism programs Uh including The Gathering of necessary information to implement peace and order within dep ed pareho din ang actual outcome tsaka ang Kim na accomplishments Madam chair for second quarter and Third Quarter of 2023 so ah gusto nating ah I ah present din sa commitee na ito Madam chair na sa mga dokumento na sinubmit din ng Commission on audit part po ng certification sa paggamit ng DepEd confidential fund ay galing sa mga military units and Madam Cher Uh we have copies of those documents ang dep ed use of confidential funds in partnership with the first infantry division of Zamboanga del Sur fifth infantry division of Isabela seventh infantry division of Nueva Ecija 9th infantry division of Camarin Sur at ang mga activities nila Madam chair ay mga youth leadership summits Yun po yung tawag nila doon at mga information Education campaigns now Can we present yyung slide Madam chair ah may pinp po tayo as a sample sa ano yung mga pinapamahalaan mga pamphlets sa ganitong mga di umanoy youth leadership summit tsaka information Education campaign Ayun Madam Che Ang sabi po diyan kapag nagsuot ka lang ng flag na may nakasulat na serve the people ' ba Madam Cher napakagandang pakinggan pero para po sa dep ed Madam chair ang mga nagsusuot daw ng ganon dapat i-report sa dep ed at bahagi po ng paggamit nila ng confidential fund ay pagpapakalat ng ganitong napaka malicious na kaisipan Madam Cher and given that we already have Supreme Court ruling na nagsasabing nakakapahamak sa buhay ng ating mga bata mga kabataan ang ganitong mga Tipon ng propaganda Madam chair It seems na para pala sa dep ed accomplishment ang pagpapahalag ng buhay ng mga estudyante at ng mga teacher in fact under the now resigned DepEd secretary they violated their own order Madam chair they have a department order number 32 series of 2019 ang sabi do Madam chair Ay bawal and I quote schools shall not be utilized for military purposes this includes the conduct of anti-insurgency information activities or such other related uses that may endanger the lives of learners and school personnel so Madam Cher lumala Iyung Education Crisis 30 seconds yun pa ang naging paggamit ng DepEd confidential funds Madam Cher next slide Madam cher Ah so we can wrap up ganito yung Breakdown ng paggamit ng dep ed confidential funds Madam chair kung mapapansin Gumamit lang for first second and Third Quarter to's Madam Cher bawat quarter pare-pareho yyung amounts ng pagamit 37.5 million and this is confirmed by the audit observation memo ng kaa Madam Chair and Uh Madam Cher we take note June July which falls in the second ng Third Quarter wala pong pasok sa mga paaralan So yung question natin ano yung ginawa ng dep ed At bakit magkakapareho yung rates ng paggamit ng confidential fund so ang isa sa makikita natin dito Madam chair We can't Uh deny no na It seems ay kaduda-duda yung ganong pinepresyuhan for this budget hearing was the budget proposal of fiscal year 2025 of the office of the vice president um I request that the questions Madam chair be related to the subject of the budget hearing which is the ovp 2025 Uh budget proposal and um Madam ch you will allow me This um because you allowed him to speak about the Ped which is not related to ovp according to Kate and ida the former secretary of the cpp npa's sub Regional committee 5 revealing concerning associations of Representative Raul Manuel with the NPA units in Southern Mindanao that he visited Madam ch point of order in 2017 and his alleged connections with the cpp NPA couple with the recruitment activities involving kabataan party list rendel Who was missing for 11 months and of cof yung sinasabi po ng ng ating Vice President ay allege so ang ibig sabihin niyan Marites or galing yan sa chism hindi natin ang Office of the vice president let the ch rule so yes we will take note of the request of our Madam Vice President let's um Stick to um our topic okay so with that we shall proceed to our next Uh member from the majority we have our deputy majority leader the honorable leanda bolilia Madam chair sinasabi po dito ng kaa na the obp n disallowed po ang amount of 73 million because of the non submission of documents evidencing the success of information and or surveillance activities to support the Acknowledgement rece for payments doon Ibig sabihin po nito sinasabi po ng kaa na ang purpose For which the intell that confidential funds is intended for ay hindi po na-achieve po So kaya po nililinaw natin ito dahil gusto ko nga po na bawat peso na ilalagay natin sa pondo ng gobyerno ay sigurado na nagagamit ng tama at hindi nasasayang pero dahil po dito sa finding na ito ng kaa lumalabas po may nasayang na pondo ngayon ginagalang po natin yung Ah yung ah ang ating bce presidente na hindi sumagot sa mga katanungan kung Ah hindi po siya komportableng sumagot ah pero gusto ko rin pong itanong na nung ang mag-submit po sila ng liquidation of cash advance ah Ano po ba ang naging sagot ng kaa dito Madam Vice President I think that question is best ask directed to the Commission on audit not to the office of the vice president Madam chair This is an example of the point of Order raised by the honorable makapagal aroyo the the issue that you're disc the issue that you are taking up is in the budget of 2023 now if you want comparative you compare 2024 and 2025 sa 2024 wala ng confidential funds So hindi na siya germ sa discussion ng proposal ng 2025 budget yan yung pinpoint of Order kan exactly kung an sinasabi niya Yes madam vice president already ruled on on that point of Order introduced earlier which is that um it was not taken and it was already explained so please proceed ma Madam chair Ako po ay hindi Nagtatanong po tungkol doon sa comparative Ano po ang gusto ko lamang pong maging malinawan po Ayung sinasabi ko po impact Ako po'y may isa-submit at popropose Bill about impact institutionalizing impact evaluation especially for the big ticket projects of the government kasi malag po ito pag tayo po'y nag-prepare ng ng budget dapat We set a Direction and we cannot set a direction without looking back at what we have done in the past yun po ang aking punto dito hindi po ako [Musika] nagco-computer ko po ngayon ay sa kaa na ah kung sasagot po tayo ng kaa Madam chair kasi po sinabi po niya kanina nilinaw po niya kanina nag-issue nga sila ng notice of this allowance pero hindi na ngangahulugan na may illegal o maling ginawa Tama po baa Ano po Tama po dahil ito po ay appealable pa at hindi pa ito final Tama po as mulano Opo ah nung nung nag-issue po ng notic notice of this allowance Ibig sabihin po may nakita problema yung auditor hindi compan siya sa ah coa audit rules but ang sinasabi po namin Hindi pa po final yung determination ng auditor kasi may level pa po iyan ng appeal sa Commission proper and then sa Supreme Court Okay pero gust kung maa affirm lang po yung dis allowance doon lang po masasabi na tama talaga yung evaluation auditor pero bakit po ganito ang sinasabi sa memorandum circular 2015-1 ganito po dine ang notice of this allowance ah joint circular number 2.01 at 3.19 po ito notice of this allowance refers to a written notification to the head of agency and the accountant informing and requiring the person liable to restitute the amount of confidential fund or or intelligence fund disapproved disallowed in audit either in whole or in part as a result of of illegal irregular or improper This this imbursement exp expenditure of such fund Ito po ang definition ng ano definition ng notice of allowance notice of this allowance nag-issue po kayo ng notice of this allowance e Ito po yung definition do sa joint circular ng notice of this allowance Tama naman po yung definition Yan din po yung definition under PD 1445 or the state audit code yun po kasi notice of this allowance meron po y 180 days na mag-appear meron kasi pong mga na-issue ng notice of this allowance hindi na inaapela kasi alam nila walang walang Talagang walang remedyo ibig sabihin accepted nila na irregular expenditure iyon niref nire-rescue or baka hindi naconsider Iyung argument or iong factual circumstances nagpa-file po ng appeal para ipaliwanag yung side para naman matimbang n Commission proper kung tama ba o hindi yung auditor o liable ba talaga yyung persons liable yun po yyung procedure kaya po meron talaga doon na directive to restitute yung amount kung hindi na iaaalay po ni na natin na tama naman yung definisyon dito notice of this allowance ah is approved is audit either whole part as a result of illegal irregular or improper disbursement of expenditure at nag-issue po kayo ng notice of this allowance at ito po ang definition ng notice of this allowance Tama po i rest my case Madam chair Madam Vice President do you wish to comment Yes ma'am um with regard to the proposed bill on the impact assessment I hope that it will be included that um [Musika] um the Representative Castro of act teachers party list I heard her during the DSWD budget hearing na nagpapasalamat siya sa ayuda na binigay sa kanila ng DSWD Sana naman ah masali din yun sa investigation kung saan napupunta yong ah pamimigay nila ng ayuda because representative Castro has a record in the mtf LC as a supporter of the cpp MPA andf and again Salamat and again the chair Reminds all members and guests to keep our comments Just on point Let's just Stick to the topic um next Oh yes please proceed Madam chair siguraduhin po natin na doon po sa ating ipoproseso confidential man o anumang pondo ng gobyerno ay dapat subjected to impact evaluation dahil tulad po ng sinabi sa sa briefing ng dbcc inamin mismo po ng ating Nether secretary na talagang maraming pondo ng gobyerno ang nasasayang dahil wala tayong ginagawang impact evaluation para malaman kung saan ba talaga tamang Ilagay ang ating mga pondo Salamat ah honorable bia next interpolate is honorable Joel Cha Thank you madam chair Actually Madam chair halos lahat ng itatanong ko naitanong na eh But anyway may mga Konti na lang po akong itatanong dito sa Sana po masagot po ng ating ah vice president um Madam Vice President pwede ko pong di po ba naging Mayor po kayo ng dabao for 6 years Tama po ba Madam sh I will forg the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the budget proposal Madam chair May I request a one minute restro break Yes briefing suspended the budget briefing is here by resumed next to interpolate is the honorable Joel jua Thank you madam ch Madam Cher Ulitin ko po yung aking tanong sa ating ah kagalang-galang na Vice President um Pwede ko po bang malaman kung gaano po kayo katagal naging mayor ng Davao Uh Madam chair I will forgo the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal by question and answer I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal honorable Cha proceed please Thank you madam chair ah since hindi naman po niya sinasagot I Will just continue with my line of questioning para lang po maipasok for ah sa record po Um alam naman po natin lahat na kayo po ay naging alkalde ng Davao of course ah nung time na iyon eh Meron din po kayong item for confidential fund under under the office of the mayor Tama po ba point of Order Madam ch ch um yes honorable what we are what we are discussing is the obp budget not a budget of Uh of the local government of Davao of many many years ago and while I have the while I have the microphone I just want to make a manifestation that your honor you said that that allocation includes utilization Uh if that were the case we would everybody would be examining everybody's 2023 2022 2021 Bud and Madam chair I have been attending so many budget Hearings nobody ever discusses something earlier than 2024 Madam Cher um if I may Madam chair um I will not ask naman the confidential budget of the city of the b Yes I was about to say that um Yes um so yes um your point of Order is well taken Ma'am We will not discuss the budget of Yes I will not Hindi ko po tatanungin po yun ang point ko lang po dito ay ah as a mayor of davo dahil alam naman po natin medyo matagal po siyang naging alkalde eh Hindi po sa kanya ah bago itong ah confidential fund and in fact Ito po ay ah kumbaga normal na po Dahil lahat naman po ng alkalde Meron naman pong confidential fund eh now ah susunod ko pong tanong madam share is ah Napansin ko po dito sa liquidation report dated Uh January 10 2023 Meron po ditong nakapirma sa taas po ng Sarah Z Duterte Vice President Gusto ko pong tanungin ang ating ah vice presidente kung ito po ba ay kanyang pirma sa liquidation report po ng January 10 2023 serial number 2022 to- 12-12 Madam Vice Madam shair on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the office of the vice president we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the with the ongoing Uh audit Madam chair again sinasabi ko na walang confident f 2025 budget proposal and all the questions are about confidential funds except for one which was about the recipient of ovp projects um while Totoo po yung sinasabi po ng ating presidente subalit ngayon lamang po natin nakita to at ngayon lamang po natin nakita kung ano po po yung laman ng ah ah o kung papaano po niya nagamit yung ah confidential fund kaya kung dati po Hindi naman natin siya matatanong dahil wala rin po tayong opportunity dahil wala rin po tayong hawak na mga dokumento but it is only now Madam Cher Kaya nga po tinatanong po natin para at least malaman din po natin at saka konektado rin po to dahil at the end of the day Dito po natin makikita kung papaano po siya gumamit ng pondo na binibigay po sa kanyang opisina I proceed now Thank you madam ch meron din po ditong nakaattach ah dated January 10 2022 certification ah Sa baba po dito nakalagay po dito attested sar Z Duterte Vice President at sa taas po non Meron pong pirma do you confirm that This is your signature Madam vice president Madam Vice President Yes um Madam ch precisely dapat hindi ninyo yan nakikita kasi that that confidential funds is pertains to National Security and hindi pa tapos yung audit process answer the question share on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit hona Thank you madam chair ah since Hindi naman po niya sinasagot yung ating katanungan I will just proceed meron din pong naka touch dito na accomplishment report utilization of confidential and intelligence fund ah period covered December 21 to December 31 2022 total amount 125 million at sa baba po nito may nakalagay pong approved by Sarah Z Duterte Vice President again Madam chair Gusto ko pong tanungin ang ating Madam Vice President kung ito pong pirma na nandirito sa ibabaw ay kanya po madam vice president m I'm chair on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions from kaa regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation the going and unfinished audit Thank you madam Cher Madam Cher Napansin ko lang po kasi sa lahat po ng kanyang mga sinubmit ah personal push personal may nakalagay po sa taas na signature po ng ating ah bc presidente ah at wala pong ah mga counter sign So ibig sabihin wala po ditong nag inspection bukod po sa kanya siya po yung nagc ify siya rin po yung nagat at siya rin po yung nag-approve So yun po yung aking punto po dito ah another thing mad cheer gusto ko lang pong tanungin ang ating ah kasi kaya ko nga po tinatanong kanina kung ah anong taon sana siyang naging alkalde ng Davao kasi gusto ko pong tanongin sa kanya kung aware po ba siya sa joint circular number 2015-01 dated January 8 2015 Madam Vice President Madam sh on the issue of confidence funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the office of the vice president from the Commission on audit we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit and you have 30 seconds left Thank you madam Cher Madam Cher Ah yung huling tanong ko ia-address ko na lamang po sa ating kaa um kanina po nung ah tinanong po kayo ah ng ating ah ni Congress woman na Magsaysay Sinabi po niya hindi tama ung paggamit ng pondo Ano po Pwede po bang pakipaliwanag ninyo sa amin at sinabi po ninyo Opo ah pupwede po bang pak paliwanag po sa ninyo sa amin kung papaano po ninyo nasabi na hindi tama yung paggamit ng pondo as po po s kuha po hindi po kay madam Vice President asano Thank you madam chair ang sagot ko po ay yun sa General ah effect po ng notice of disallowance kasi wala po akong personal knowledge doon sa confidential fund at hindi ko po nakita yung document niyan nung sinubmit sa committe dahil iba po yung iba po yung unit na nag-o-audition niyan so doun po sa hindi tamang pag question po Yes um doun po sa hindi pag ah tamang paggamit ng pondo ah pupwede rin po ba nating masabi na nagkaroon po ng diversion of fund o yung sinasabi po natin yung pondo eh Hindi po nagamit doon po sa Talagang dapat siya gamitin as mul ano Opo pag Ang tanong po tungkol doun sa audit ng confidential fund h ko po pwedeng sagutin kasi hindi po ako y nag-ud noon pero kung ang tanong niyo yung General general sa Lawas Meron pong ganon so possible po may diversion of Fund ground na um ang mga ground po ng disallowance is Uh um irregular Ibig sabihin po hindi sumunod sa panuntunan ng ah guidelines ah Pwede pong excessive Hindi naman kailangan bumili ng Maraming stocks nasira lang medicine na expire lang Pwede pong unconscionable ibig sabihin masyadong shocking na dun sa senses parang kung ang laptop mo is ah 50,000 Bumili ka ng laptop na 500,000 Baka naman unconscionable na po yon ex sir ang tanong ko lang po kung so yes last question So yung tanong ko lang po kung possible po na merong diversion of Meron pong under darice Penal Code po merong ah technical mal thank po salamat next interpolate is the honorable JV luistro Thank you madam chair I think we all agree from the level of the President down to barangay captain public office is a public trust In other words public officers and employees must must at all times be accountable to the people in line with this Madam chair with all respect I wish to invite the attention of the committee to the press interview of her excellency Madam vice president in the Senate on August 22 2024 in substance the vice president said Saan naman kayo nakak constitution body inuutusan i-submit ang audit report hindi pa nga tapos with all do respect Madam chair May I request the Resource speaker to comment on her intention about her statement Madam Vice President ch again question is not related to the 2025 Office of the vice president budget proposal on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing audit hon Madam ch In other words this representation wish to be clarified When the vice president made the statement intensyon ba ng ating Vice presidente na ibahagi o hindi ibahagi sa publiko ang resulta ng nilalaman ng audit report patungkol sa kontrobersyal na 125 million na confidential fund nonetheless Madam chair I understand that the vice president already Expressed her intention not to answer this Question thus please allow this representation to shift to the coa May I request the kaa to give his comment to this statement of the vice president ask Juliano Madam ch pwede pakiulit po yung question repeat the question Hindi po natin isasama saong 5 minutes during the press interview of the vice president in the Senate on August 22 2024 she made a remarks Saan naman kayo nakakita constitutional body inuutusan to submit fraud audit hindi pa nga tapos we are requesting the coa to make their comment on this Madam Cher ang sagot ko po siguro in relation doun sa supina kasi Um yung rationally po nung compliance namin sa supina UM i-quote ko lang po yung yung second page po first sentence noong sub this sub stom is being issued in accordance with the oversight function of the house of representatives this order is Likewise based on section 3 of kaa circular 2013 006 dated September 20 ah 2013 ang ah compliance po ng kaa ay dahil po ito ay iniissue po ng um chairperson ng committee corporations and under Yun pong Congress yung house of representatives is a body authorized by law to issue ofina and we cannot interpret Otherwise there is a presumption of regularity and validity do sa supina we cannot unilaterally challenge the validity of the supina unless Uh the court Uh will interpret that Pwede po or hindi pwede yun po yung amin ko kaya kami po in po namin sa do sa house of representatives do sa wisdom po ng leadership yong compliance sa documents at um ito rin yung sinasabi sa aming guidelines na may po we to honorable Luis in relation to your compliance with the sapina did you recall having received any feedback from the office of the vice president pertaining to the same Actually po meron pong sulat ang Office of the vice president sa aming Chairman na Ayun nga po may mga legal issues po na binabanggit at ito po naconsider na rin po ng office of the chairperson noong nag-comply sa sub saum Madam ch with that manifestation of Thea May I request that the committee be provided with a copy of the letter and having said so Madam sh May I request for a suspension of the briefing suspended share about the status of the letter the budget briefing is here by Res honorable Madam chair without going to the letters of the communication could you please first manifest what you have in your with me is a copy of the letter of the office of the vice president signed by Attorney zule t Lopez under secretary and chief of staff address to honorable gamaliel a cordoba chairperson Commission on audit Quezon City This is dated August 21 2024 Madam chair This is composed of four pages and I lament that I do not have material time to go over this letter by the letters nonetheless I wish to manifest that the substance of this letter is an opposition to the sapina that was issued by Congress if I may read we are of the position That the subject sapina should not be complied the foll reas if I may continue Madam please among the issues that were raised one is the violation of the principle of separation of power second is viol to process and Third is the confidential nature of the Fund share I wish to manifest my comment to the issues that were raised in this letter First The principle of separation of power is not absolute This is subject to Exception as a matter of fact we call it the system of check and balances and that is the very reason why the Congress has the oversight power and that is to make sure that the law enacted including the appropriation law and to be specific the gaa 2022 the source of the confidential fund is properly implemented if I may share one of the landmark cases about oversight power is the Abakada guro party list there are three consequences of oversight power one is Congressional scrutiny two is Congressional investigation and three is legislative supervision with all do respect by Congressional scrutiny without necessarily conducting an inquiry in aid of legislation the Congress requ information and from other branches of the government similarly can and resolution consideration of the agenc inv respect violation I humbly believe that we are all Witnesses in today's hearing we are in fact catering the right to process a number of the steam members of the house propounded questions already but our Vice President maintain his position not to address the question conc conf f but speaking about DU process I humbly submit that notice was given This is a budget briefing and ample opportunity To Explain was even accorded it is my humble submission Madam chair that contrary to the letter we did not violate Je process as a matter of fact we cater fin the fis Kino gr nature and recognizing memorandum circular Number 15 2023 relating to the privilege communication Ang tanong po madam chair When There is notice of this allowance na nagsasabing ang 72 million out of 125 million na confidential fund ay h nagamit ng ayon sa joint circular number 15-0 and as a matter of fact ipinababalik ng kaa sa pamahalaan ang tanong confidential fund pa po ba ang tawag dito privilege communication pa din po ba ang saklaw nitoo at tahimik na lang po ba ang congreso i wish to share the case of Chavez versus public estates authority kind wp up This is the right of the people to information on matters of public concern there is no argument ang pera ng gobyerno ay pera ng taong bayan unless the citizens have proper information we cannot fulfill the constitutional date that public office is a public trust I submit Madam chair Madam Vice President do you care to comment Yes madam Cher nasabi kan ang gist lang na nakuha ko na nasabi kanina ni representative luistro luistro Yes um is that wala siyang time na isa-isahin per letter yong letter na sa Commission on audit on Why Uh the requested documents should not be released to Congress Pero nakahanda na yung mga sagot niya sa lahat ng arguments namin sa National Security sa du process and sa separation of powers is is part ba of what you said earlier representative kimbo let's Stick to to the plan yun yyung ah narinig ko sa iyo kanina na hindi mo iaccomodate yyung point of Order na question and to answer the office of the vice president lang on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit we are cooperating and answering all the questions in the proper venue that is inside the Commission on audit not in the budget hearing for the 2025 proposal of the ovp budget thank you Thank you note all your comments I do not recall saying the phase Stick to the plan Madam Vice President and Uh so we Yes we do note your comments and also I believe your compliment of the brilliance of the honorable luistro so yes may request that the secretariat read your Stick to the plan line As I said Madam Vice President pasens na po we don't have the right to make requests at this point in time so we proceed to our next member the honorable Ramon Gutierrez Thank you madam chair Good afternoon po sa ating lahat and um Begin Madam chair Actually my line of question po tayo but a lot of it has been asked by our colleagues and obviously the biggest issue for us here would be Iyung issues relating to confidential funds But before that I'd like to preface my questioning po kasi there were quite a number of point of orders the scope of our budget hearing and though of course we defer to the senior and Senior lawyers and their experience it is my opinion that we are well within the bounds of our discussion for three points that I would like to share just to for the consideration of the body first as mentioned by Congressman Manuel under our rules under rule 162 we have rulings as President under rule 163 we have supplementary rules regarding our parliamentary practices so It's very clear po that by tradition Uh we really follow po no kung ano po yung nangyayari sa previous Hearings we could still pursue the same and very much if i recall in other proceedings in other Hearings for the budget we do discuss years going back and in fact we can Actually go towards we can draw comparison with utilization and allocations of previous administrations because precisely This is part of our oversight function and Part in support of in support of our duty in legislating for the general appropriations act second Mr chair I'd like to point out also that part of the President's budget in the nep if we take a look that there is a portion on proposed budget there is a portion on current Budget and there's a portion of actual so as a matter of fact and I believe it was actually DS ungab who taught me This when we had our workshop When We started for the first term here and that actually while we are discussing the budget of 2025 verily part of the nep of the actual is actually in 2022 and very much as precisely mentioned by Congresswoman kimbo Uh sometimes the validity of appropriations can go on for two years and that is why exactly we can really Look into that and Third I think most important in relation to the issue of the confidential funds is a question of yung sa coa po iung itong notice of this allowance and audit report which we have received by virtue of sapina stom 2024 po iung date nito so i think it would have been impossible for us to tackle these matters in the previous deliberations and I think rather than Although the Uh proposal is noted that we have different committees to hear these kinds of things given the nature that it is not yet final I think the hearing before the budget would be most appropriate to consider the same so with that said Mr Madam chair I would like to proceed with my questioning and I would be addressing this Question to the honorable vice president Uh Madam chair May we ask through you um is the is the honorable vice president aware of the audit observation memorandums covering three different disbursements of confidential funds Madam Vice President on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure the public of our full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit Madam chair is the honorable vice president aware that For the first audit observation random regarding the two disbursements of confidential fund there were two issues raised by the coa Madam Vice President Madam chair on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions from the coa regarding the confidential funds of the ovp we have submitted our responses and we assure the public our full cooperation with ongoing and unfinished audit Thank you for the response Madam chair Madam chair um is the honorable vice president aware that one issue raised by the coa was the lack of documentary evidence presented Madam Vice President Madam Sher on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions regarding audit actions from the coa regarding the confidential funds of the office of the vice president we have submitted our responses and we assure the public of our full cooperation with the ongoing audit Uh Madam chair Thank you for the response Uh with the honorable vice president be aware that another issue raised by the audit observation memorandum was the miss the misappropriation of categories because Madam chair in the audit operation audit observation memorandum there was a distinguishment that the use of confidential funds shall be limited to certain categories of expenses and that verily the point of the aom was that they were f that some of the categories the categories included in the aom were not subject or scope of confidential funds Vice President on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions from kaa regarding confidential funds of the office of the vice president we have submitted our responses and we assure our full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit Thank you madam chair Madam chair I'd move on to the next question Uh regarding these aom It seems to be that for coa based on experience Masyadong matagal na po ito may we ask Madam ch If there is any delays of sorts on the part of the office of the vice president in terms of responding to these aom and notice of this allowance Madam Vice President Madam chair I think that question is best asked to the Commission on audit why will he ask me that sinabi na nga niya itatanong saiss audit e Actually there was a response on the part of the office of the vice president and I would just assume that the vice president is aware of the timing of their response to any audit actions that she has repeatedly mentioned Madam chair Madam chair that is a question for the Commission on audit Not for the office of the vice president Madam chair will I will rephrase and indulge the good honorable vice president Uh May I ask Madam chair kaa regarding the proceedings po nung kanilang audit observation memorandum May we know Madam chair through the Uh member of coa the date on which the aom was submitted and the date of which the response was made asano Madam chair I'm sorry I don't have the documents and I not private to the audit of the intelligence and confidential fund because it is um within the intelligence confidential fund audit unit Madam chair most respectfully May we know the position of our member from kaa here Madam ch I am an assistant commissioner of kaa senor Uh the head of the assistant commissioner's group Thank you madam sh just clarifying so hindi po siya pal galing sa icf po no so I suppose we have to make do with that answer for now um a lot of my questions were supposed to bank on that Madam chair I'll move on to the next po siguro um based on the circular the compliance of liquidation of cash should be done within the first within year end and Madam chair It Could Be noted that the submission of the liquidation for the first Uh confidential Fund issued for 2022 was actually done in January 10 2023 I will not address this to the honourable vice president as she has pointed I will address this Question to the coa Madam chair Uh is that correct that part of the circular dictates that liquidation of cash advances regarding confidential fund should be done within year end asom ulan you Yes Uh there is um a requirement that Uh all C advances should be liquidated at year end Madam ch not withstanding that the scope of covered period would be for example in the case of 2022 it was December 21 to December 31 would that still require that liquidation be done at year end asano um if um if the disbursement is not yet Uh generally all all unliquidated C advances should be um Uh liquidated at TH at year end so Madam chair not to Sandy that It ended December 31 it should have been liquidated at that time but yet the liquidation report was filed in January 10 wouldn't This Be ground for the disallowance of the whole confidential fund for 2022 Madam chair asano um under our rules um the disallowance is based on the usage of funds not not on the Cas advance Uh if the usage of fund is irregular It Could Be disallowed but it is based on um untimely liquidation of cast advance there are administrative Uh um penalties under the circular but it should not be the the so basis for notice of this allowance Madam chair if with the indulgence of the committee just two more questions Uh the one more question on that matter the address to the good the assistant commissioner Madam chair uh what is the scope of these administrative penalties Ano po Iyung length nung time of penalties that were prescribed I don't have the circular on the Cas advance It's a 97 001 if I still remember it Thank you madam chair Madam chair last question po no and I think it should be noted that the first cif that was issued the first confidential responds to 2022 was based on yung contingent fund and Later on passed on but however for the second it was already part of the gaa and this amount was 500 million however based on the liquidation only 375 million was used May we know Madam chair from the office of the vice president Why the fourth supposed quarter the fourth ranch was not utilized Madam Vice President kasi Madam ch noong nagsagutan na kayo Ikaw ah representative kimbo atsaka representative Castro about the 11 days 19 days Ilang days na iyon ng utilization nakita ko na na that was the start of um an attack against the office of the vice president and i-in Iyung Attack on the confidential fund use So nakita na namin ung timelines and Nakita na namin ung kumbaga ah script sa narrative ng attack on the office of the vice president with regard to confidential funds so to show goodwill ah to the people and para mapiga ng mukha na Sinabi namin na hindi namin napapadali ang trabaho namin dahil sa confidential funds dahil nata-traffic that is the reason why hindi na namin ginamit ang Fourth quarter na confidential funds um sa office of the vice president to show the people the public that we are in good Faith sa paggamit ng confidential funds and we are true to our word na Sinabi namin na napapadali ang trabaho pero pwedeng i-give up yan that was your last question with mam cham ch Let us Just finish honorable given the substantial response this time Madam chair I'd like to follow up the question but Isn't it the case for this batch of confidential funds This was issued through the gaa and therefore it went ver precisely may nep po iyan as part of the President's budget You made your case before the dbm for 500 million so the expectation is there was a program to be followed for disbursement for 500 million Isn't it Madam chair when we when we indicate in our g certain allocations the expectation Is that it would be utilized to its fullest extent would this mean Madam chair that the confidential fund even for any supposed program submitted to the dbm is Actually discretionary on the part of the public official Madam chair Madam Vice President Let's just finish Madam Vice President ah Yes madam chair um yong paggamit namin kanina in-explain ko na na hindi na namin ginamit kasi nakita na namin sa timeline eh um may sagutan ng 11 19 days and then meron ng lumabas na aom ng coa within days and then meron na namang lumabas na another aom so nakikita na namin Iyung pattern noong attack that's why ah we decided in the office of the vice president na Huwag na dagdagan pa yong bala ng attack at ipakita sa mga tao na yong confidential funds we are in good Faith of using that and goodwill namin na um napapadali yung trabaho pero pwede siyang hindi gamitin ng office of the vice president Salamat Madam honorable guz Madam chair unless it's a point of Order not in since My name is mentioned by the vice president may I answer may I comment also Madam ch just a short introduction Yes kasi yung sinasabi niyang attack Hindi ko po naintindihan yung attack nagtatawanan daw tayo during the kung ano man yung sinasabi on 11 days I think Hindi ako yon no ah i-review niya yung naging proceedings noong 2023 na budget second Madam chair Ah hindi ko intindihan itong attack na to kasi legitimate yong nice natin about confidential funds n 2022 na nakita naman talaga natin on records na wala talagang item na confidential fund sa 2022 kaya nice natin yon Madam chair at wala akong planong i-attack Para saan ito ginagawa lang natin di ba dahil ito trabaho naman natin mandated tayo na busisiin ang mga ah ang mga budget related sa iba't ibang mga agency so hindi ito wala itong ano no Wala itong intention but for the sake of the budget lang at tinitignan naman nakita naman natin Ano na walang line item sa 2022 budget kaya dapat lang na ma-explain at kaya nga yun ano nagkaroon na tayo ng audit at ano na yung mga yung yung galing na sa coat at naintindihan na natin kung kung paano yan Ano ginamit so i' like to disagree na sa umpisa pa lang ay may plan na may plano na ako na mag-attach kanino sa office of the vice president and in fact nag-request pa nga siya eh ng budget for confidential fund in 2024 na kung hindi natin na-discover yung 2022 na confidential funds well magtutuloy-tuloy pa rin yung ganyan ah Madam chair so Yes madam chair so i' like to disagree na meron ng Meron akong intensyon na mag-attach sa kanya or sa office President point of clarification Madam chair um Yes honorable Dan Fernandez clarification last one I just wanted to be clarified Madam chair because Uh um Uh there is an accusations coming from the from the vice president that um there is a collective um Uh action that Uh Uh to be taken by this committee on attacking Uh the Uh the budget especially the kaa Uh report on the um confidential fund of the vice president um I think Uh we need to be clarified If there is such Uh action that will be taken by this committee Uh I think it is um unfair to all of us especially um kami galing lang po kami sa kabilang hearing and we decided to check it out What is um Uh being discussed in this committee then suddenly We will be a part of this Uh conspiracy or collective action that will be taken against the confidential Bond of the vice president and um hearing the Uh the side of the vice president on the repetitive repetitive um Uh reply on not answering Uh I think it will set a bad precedent What prevents other departments that we will be inviting over to do the same and I think it is incumbent upon her Uh with all DU respect and with humility Uh for us to be clarified on those um budget that was used for the confidential fund and Uh I think um Uh being a part of the accusations that we are part of the collective action Uh to maline her on the confidential fund is something that is out of order I know Uh Madam chair that um titingnan naman po natin yung budget niya for 2025 na 2 billion and comparing to 2024 Uh budget na 1.8 Me Myself I will move to approve this budget because ang liit lang naman po ng increase niya But what hurts me ay ah ay Yun pong masama po tayo doon sa sinasabi po niya na na meron po tayong collective action to maline her so do you wish to introduce am hindi ang sinasabi ko lang po sana I want to be clarified that it is a collective action of this committee Uh to have a malicious intent on asking the Uh the Uh confidential fund of the vice president on the previous years We are doing that in the different committees We are doing that in the different investigations and what i'm trying to point out Madam chair Uh I hope that the accusation of the vice president have basis on trying to involve everybody on this conspiracy to attack her so just to to be clarified Absolutely we have Absolutely no plan any conspiracy if I may use that word to attack If I also may use that word um nandito lang po tayo para kilatisin ang budget ng ah isang ah ahensya ng gobyerno yun lang po yun lang po maliwanag um my point of clarification if that Uh conspiracy theory of having this Uh Uh a pre Uh attack Uh on her Uh budget is being conspired by this committee and Uh if that is so eh let me out Mr Madam chair hindi po ako kasama doon and I hope that the um the Uh good vice president will amend Uh her statement involving everybody Uh for this Uh action taken by this committee Madam chair would Uh Madam chair Vice President wish to I did not say tumatawa gusto niyo ulitin gusto niyo ipabasa ulit sa secretary kung ano sinabi ko i did not say tumatawa kayo number two I did not say attack by the committee number I did not say collective action sa kanya galing I did not say conspiracy theory sa kanya nanggaling y pabasa niyo ulit kung ano sinabi ko and so Madam Vice President because those words were Ed just because you don't like my answer you don't like how I answer you don't like my demor Hindi ibig sabihin na hindi ako sumasagot And that's the reason why Madam ch I ask for the point of clarification yes so I had pwede lang po sana now that the Sandali lang po para hindi po tayo nagsasabay-sabay merong clarification na hiningi at nagc naman po ako wala pong plano kasi kanina very clear ang sinabi naman po there was a plan Stick to the plan wala rin po akong natatandaan I kep saying Let us all Stick to the issues which is the budget So yun na lang po Let's just end here and so that we can move on Yes madam ch k pwede lang po sana Let's move on meron pa pong isang budget Pagkatapos nito lastly Uh That's the reason why I ask for a point of clarification the point of clarification is to be clarified by the Resource person and if that is the answer of the good vice president I will accept that Uh her intention is not to involve everybody on a Uh on a collective Attack On We're happy with that happy on the answer of the vice president but of course Uh Uh I just wanted to review the you anyway thank you so much m ch Salam Madam sh Yes um yes of clarification is understandable if you want to be clarified of the words I uttered I uttered I did not say collective action I Do not say conspiracy theory made clear I'm being attacked by the committee nanggaling sa akin y So anong i-clarify ko doon Yes ma'am noted po it had been yung scrip kasi hindi na nag hindi na nagkakabuhol-buhol na yung script let's now proceed let's now proceed Madam ch Madam chair just an inquiry from this representation I ask if this is a budget hearing on the budget of the ovp or Is this a committe inves This is a budget briefing by the office of the vice president and with that clarification Let us move on to the next member um our honorable Vice chair Madam ch I request restro break one minute Thank you briefing suspended obp can we ask Okay na lang the budget briefing is here by resumed next interpolate is the honorable Alan d Good afternoon Madam Vice President and to everyone Uh Before I proceed with my question Madam chair let me make a manifestation in the national expenditures program for fiscal year 2025 Volume 1 page 34 and 35 On obligations by object of expenditures There's a column for gaa 2023 20 2 and 2025 that is on the operating expenditures Likewise in page 36 on the performance indication there a colum 2023 gaa targets in the briefing materials provided by the office of the vice president for fiscal year 2025 page four presented the comparative Budget allocation and utilization for fiscal year 2019 and 2025 and also in the presentation slide presentation of the vice president in the physical accomplishment that is gaa 2023 Madam chair if I may proceed with my questions Please proceed I will defer to the vice president if she wishes to answer or not my questions under the obligations by object of expenditures in the 2025 National expenditures program 375 million was obligated in 2023 can you kindly confirm Pres Madam ch will forg the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal Madam chair considering that what was obligated is 375 there is a balance of 125 million that has not been obligated and release as earlier confirmed by our Vice President can she again confirm it as to the amount Madam sh I will forg the opportunity to defend the ovp budget proposal of fiscal year 2025 a question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal Madam chair May I ask the vice president What are the programs activities and projects that will be affected by the non utilization or non-use of the 125 milon confidential f Madam ch I will forg the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal the question and answer and we leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal Madam ch will the 125 million unobligated balance of the confidential fund be considered savings by the office of the vice president Madam chair I would just like to point out yung previous question niya sinagot ng sumunod niyang question I will forgo the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal with question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal It's about about savings Madam chair if she will have it as a savings considering that the budget has a validity period of 2 years which will end in December 2024 So that's is my question if it will be considered as a savings by the office of the vice president Madam chair I will forgo the opportunity to defend the ovp 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal Madam chair is the vice president aware that the Commission on audit issued a cred notice dated aug 8 2024 finding no deficiencies on aom audit observation memorandum number 20201 dated February 1 2024 regarding the liquidation of the C advances of Mr Edward d farda special dising officer for confidential expenses of the Department of Education covering the from February 20 to June 20 of calendar year 2023 in the total amount of 75 milon Madam Vice Madam ch I cannot answer for the Department of Education but it was during her time that the period covered by this liquidation Yes madam ch I am no longer a part of the Department of Education therefore I am not author to speak anything about the Department of Education the question ngayon lang binigay na hindi na ako secretary may have it may have had happened during my term secretary pero yung question ngayon siya wala na akong authority that's why i'm asking she is aware because the the credit notice was dated August 8 2024 you may proceed on the 2025 proposed budget How much is the amount of funds allocated for financial assistance and subsidy for 2025 obp maintenance and operating expenses of 1792 391 How much is allocated for financial assistance and subsidy Vice Yes madam Sher will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president budget proposal of fiscal year 2025 by question and answer I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal ah Madam chair she mentioned about programs of the office of the price Vice President May I ask the Breakdown How much will be spend for those programs as she mentioned in her slide presentation while ago Vice President Yes Uh Madam chair um I will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal for question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as it is so Madam Cher she also mentioned about duplications such as medical assistance Andal assistance undertaken by the office of the vice president as well as of that of the Department Of Health Department of Social welfare and development May I ask the vice president in order to streamline the bureaucracy and avoid overlapping functions What are your thoughts on the possibility of relocating the fundar for medical assistance and bual to the L agencies like Department of health and DSWD Madam ch I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal question and answer I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Thank you madam Vice President That's all my question Madam chair Thank you next to interpolate is the honorable mark go Yeah thank you Thank you very much madam chair Uh to Uh the honorable vice president and The Other officials of the office of the vice president my first question is directed to the Department of Uh or the coa Is it a common practice Uh Madam chair that after an actual audit is completed there is an exit conference conducted by the Commission audit with the institution that is being audited Madam chair Madam Vice President The question is directed ask Madam ch um for um it is um a regular um activity before an audit report would be prepared There Will Be An exit conference but in other for example in the in the case of Fr audit it is not mandatory to have an exit conference they could only if the agency or the AUD wishes to have an exit conference then Uh the team could grant an exit conference but it's not automatic but for regular audit those under residency audit they conduct exit conference in the case of the office of the vice president Uh in 2022 did you conduct an exit Uh conference with the office of the vice president I have no personal knowledge honor because I'm not Uh the one who super supervises the National Government agencies Uh May I ask the vice president if they had this exit conference after the audit that was completed Madam chair Madam Vice President Madam chair I will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal the question and answer and we leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented well Uh I assume that if there was an exit conference conducted by the Uh Commission ait with the office of the vice president What were the initial findings of the audit conference Uh or the audit as explained probably in the audit conference Madam Vice President Madam ch I think that question is best Ask of the Commission on audit not the office of the vice president What are the contents of the audit What do you wish Yeah may may I would assume then that there was an exit conference and the exit conference was not satisfactory to the auditing Department that's why [Musika] the confidential fund as indicated Uh in the audit observation Uh we can see the the findings Uh because Uh the audit or the Exceed conference was not successful in terms of resolving some of this audit findings of the Commission on audit Madam chair Madam Vice Pres Yes madam chair we have received many audit actions from the office of from the commissioner ait and we have submitted our responses to them and assur the public of our full cooperation with the Commission on audit Uh Madam chair Uh we have receive a copy of the Uh audit findings Uh on Uh dated August 8 2024 Uh issued by Uh the Commission audit and Uh Uh have you submitted already your response to this ref findings Uh Madam chair Madam Vice President I'm sorry can could you could you kind repeat um your question not to be included in your time May we ask if Uh already answered And if they can tell us the answer that they Uh submitted to the Commission audit on the findings Uh of the Commission audit as reported Uh earlier Madam Uh Vice President Madam chair I would not like to assume but Uh is this about the audit of the confidential funds or the audit of the entire Office of the vice president both madam chair All right on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions from kaa regarding the confidential funds of the office of the vice president we have submitted our responses and we assure the public of our full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit Uh with regard to other audit actions we assure the public that we are coop we have submitted our responses and we are in full cooperation with the Commission on audit ah Madam chair I have another question Uh you have experience using confidential fund Uh especially Uh in 2022 and 2023 and in 2024 you don't have any confidential fun as well as probably in this proposal that you submitted in 2025 if you will make a comparison between having a confidential fund and not having Which of this you will choose if Uh be given the opportunity Madam chair Madam Vice President Yes on the issue of confidential funds we have received audit actions from kaa regarding the confidential funds of the office of the vice president we have submitted our responses and we assure the public of full cooperation with the ongoing and unfinished audit can you not share with us your experience on this Madam chair on not having a confidential fund and having a confidential fund considering the fact that you have both experience having one and not having one Madam chair I will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Okay I think I will have the same answer with my other question so I I will now end my interpellation at this point in time thank you very much madam chair Madam Uh Vice President thank you salamat next to interpolate is the honorable Francisco Paulo Ortega Thank you madam chair um few short questions lang po Um nakakapanghinayang po na ang dami pong prepared na questions nung mga kasama natin ngunit marami pong hindi nabibigyan ng ng sagot umm una siguro idirekta ko po to sa sa kaa na siguro kailangan yung responsiveness ng coa eh makikita at saka mararamdaman sa mga napakaimportante na issues na ganito kasi karamihan po sa atin nanggagaling sa local government um nanggaling po sa local government eh alam po natin na minsan Yung mga ganyang issu sa aom sa mga issues ng paglabag saka hindi po tamang paggamit nagiging problema po nagiging problema po for local officials even National officials parang po minsan kahit na 5 milyon may nasuspend Mayor may perpetual disqualification may mga ganon po na issues na I think this this house the members of this house we're really focusing on those questions kasi nga po nakikita po nila yung importansya ng questions na na mga yon Madam Sher and makikita naman po natin um sabi nga po ni Cong Mark ah My Neighbor na paulit-ulit na rin po yung mga yung mga sagot um Sana po Baka may mga ibang membro ng opisina ng office of the vice president na nakatulong po or nakapagbigay po ng supplemental na sagot or dagdag man lang sana na sagot kasi ang dami po nung mga katanungan na parang ang parang wala lang parang hindi na po nasama Eh nandiyan naman po siguro yung support staff or may mga kasama po diyan Sana po na ano naka mas nabigyan po ng kabuluhan yung hearing Madam chair Thank you po madam chair do you care to comment Madam Vice Uh Yes um Madam chair the reason why Wala dito yung ibang officials ng office of the vice president because and I again I will say I will not betray the confidence of um some members of the house of representatives meron isa sa mga nagtanong kanina ang nagsabi sa akin na merong script sa pagtatanong about sa confidential funds that is why I decided na Hindi patin yong mga um ibang officials ng office of the vice president because nakalagay naman doon sa inyong invitation and I quote nasa yung copy in this regard May we respectfully invite the vice president or her duly authorized representative so it was in the alternative So I decided I'll come alone answer all of it alone so that kung i-contempt manin niyo ako ako lang yung papasok doon sa deten at hindi na masali yung ibang tao dito at yung pamilya nila na nag-aantay sa kanila sa mga bahay nila honorable Thank you madam ch parang I mean Naiintindihan ko kung saan po nanggagaling yung sagot na yon pero um Resource persons naman po yung kailangan natin eh or on budget hearing issues um Kung ibang issues yan ay doubt if it will come from this budget hearing at sabi nga po ng mga kasama natin Madam chair at tungkol po talaga sa budget naman Saka yung mga nakaraan nga pong budget ang pinag-uusapan thank you Madam chair Madam chair Again the invitation said or in the alternative Vice President or so I am within my right of attending aone um yun lang po Siguro madam chair sayang sayang lang din po yyung pagkakataon ah This is the perfect time na marinig din tayo ng not only our fellow representatives um pero syempre ng taong bayan din po kung paano po nangyayari yung mga ganitong bagay Paano po napapatakbo Paano po nagagamit siguro I'll Stick to that as my final few questions Madam chair Maraming salamat po thank you Ma'am Salam next to interpolate is honorable Benny abante Salamat po ah Madam chair ah ah Sana po ay matapos na po ito para masimulan na po natin yung budget ng ombudsman na po at Anyway ah Palagay ko po ay alam na po ng taong bayan ang mga nangyayari sapagkat ah karamihan po ng ating mga colleagues ay nagtanong na tungkol sa confidencial fund pero gusto ko lang pong tanungin Ah si Madam vice president if Uh the representatives of the people like this house has all the right to scrutinize the budget of any agency Madam Madam Vi President Madam ch is it the question I think it's directed to the house no no I'm asking you the question ch I'm asking the question to the Resource speaker if she believes that this house being the of the people has the right to scrutinize the budget of any agency right precisely That's why I say I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal Excuse me that can only be unable by yes or no we again ch would like to remind our guest to please be responsive to the queries of the members in the most direct manner so please proceed Madam Vice President I already answered perhaps my ears are not very clear so I would like to find out if She answered Yes M and I will leave it to the house of I do to exp she has been answering the same answers since we started this query and this hearing what I just want to ask m chair is very simple a simple answer of yes or no does the Madam Pres Vice President believes that this house has all the right to scrutinize the budget any agency I'm not just referring to the agency of the the vice president I am referring to every agency of Government Madam ch that can only be simply answered by yes or no I do not need to hear paulit-ulit na kasagutan niya kanina pa gusto lang p marinig hindi po ako nagagalit oo hindi po katulad niya parang Inis na inis na siya o gusto ko lang pong malaman Oo humbly speaking naniniwala ba siya Madam chair na itong house na ito na binoto ng tao ay merong karapatan ayon sa konstitusyon na scrutinize natin ang budget ng any ahensya ng gobyerno including Congress Madam ch Madam Vice President Madam ch I request the secretaria to put on record cut and paste I will forg I will leave my answer my previous answer mam ch I would just like to ask why is it very hard for her to answer Yes I'd like to ask why is it Madam Vice President Why is it so hard for you to answer Yes When you know that the answer should be Yes why do you have to Explain have to explain we simple people I'm not even a lawyer You are a lawyer Madam chair So this is a simple question of a simple Filipino Meron po bang karapatan ang house na ito na scrutinize ang budget ng bawat ahensya ng gobyerno yun lang po ang tanong ko Pwede pong sagutin ito ng yes or no kung Yes salamat kung no e Salamat din at least nalaman ang taong bayan Madam Vice President opportunity to defend [Musika] thep house I do not need her to exp please you have been the answer for hours the 4 hours Alam ko naman po ang ang pagnanais niyo Why you answer the same for hours ngayon po iba naman ang tanong ko ang tanong ko ito kas tatanungin ko uli Madam chair Meron po bang karapatan bilang mga representante ng taong bayan sa bawat distrito at party list na mag scrutinize ng budget ng bawat ahensya ng gobyerno Hindi po natin pinag-uusapan ditong Kens f ang pinag-uusapan po natin budget Madam jer before you answer the gentleman wishes to have a direct answer either yes or no are you going to provide a direct answer um honorable abante So what what what is the answer she I asked whether the our Madam Vice President will provide a and answer is no May I know why Vice President her answer is no as well I don't think that would be the right answer the question is May I know why and her answer is no would That be the right answer to the question Why to Madam Cher hindi dahil hindi nyo gusto ung mga sagot ko hindi niyo gusto ung manner ng pagsagot ko at hindi niyo gusto ang mga sinasabi ko Hindi ibig sabihin hindi kaw sinasagot point order mali po yata ang sinasabi niyaang hindi niyo gusto Hindi yung niyo Madam Cher Huwag niyong isali dito ang aking mga kasamahan Dito ako ang nagtatanong sabihin mo sa akin hindi ko gusto ang tanong mo Yun lamang ang dapat niyang sabiin sa akin sapagkat hindi ko rin gusto ang sagot niya Madam Gan lang oo Ano po ang sagot niya Madam Vice President you wish to m ch there There's no question she the honorable abante is asking for a for a response Ano po ang sagot niya yan ang huli po niyang sinabi I request that the question be repeated hante kindly repeat your question not to be the answer included in your time to please repeat your last question Ito po ang tanong ko kanina ah meron po bang Naniniwala po ba ang ating Vice President na Meron pong karapatan ang mga representante ng taong bayan ng mga distrito at mga party list na i- scrutinize po namin ang budget ng bawat ahensya Hindi po lang ahensya niya ng bawat ahensya ng gobyerno YES O no lang po ang sagot yan ang tanong ko po madam Cher kanina ayaw niyang sumagot ang sagot niya Ayaw niyang sagutin so ang tanong ko ito May I know why ang sagot niya no Aba Madam Cher hindi po ako masyadong expert mag-english pero Palagay ko po naman yung pong tanong na May I know why Palagay ko hindi po tama yung sagot na no Madam President Madam ch Palagay ko so that explains it it is his opinon Madam ch It's up to you You are the presiding officer Madam Cher Hindi ko po opinyon yun nakalagay po sa konstitusyon yon tulad po ng Vice President natin Naniniwala po siya sa mandato niya bilang Vice President naaayon sa konstitusyon Ganon din po ang mandato natin dito na meron tayong karapatang mags scrutinize ng budget ng anumang ahensya ng gobyerno ayon sa konstitusyon ang tanong ko sa kanya nanini wala ka ba doon Madam Vice President Madam ch umikot na po tayo bumalik na tayo sa simula natapos na yon Nasagot na ang sinabi Palagay ko Hindi iyan ang tamang sagot Kung hindi niya gusto yung sagot ko Hindi ibig sabihin na hindi ako sumagot Madam Che Palagay ko hindi pa siya sumagot sapagkat inuulit lamang niya ang sinabi niya o ito Ito po ang gusto kong tanungin sa kanya ag Pwede ba Madam Cher pakiulit mo yung sagot mo na isinasagot mo ng paulit-ulit kanina pa Madam Cher gusto ko lang ulit marinig gusto ko lang ulit mai-record pakiulit mo lang ang sagot mo sa lahat ng mga tanong na tinatanong dito Mula pa kanina Madam Vice President Madam chair do not want to assume so I would like to be clarified this is the ovp 2025 budget proposal or the confidential funds Madam chair sinabi ko budget eh Hindi ko sinabing confidential fund sinabi ko budget medyo mahina yata ang tenge ni Vice President e sinabi ko budget e hindi confidential fund sinabi ko na na wala akong pakialam sa confidential fund ang pakialam ko ganito meron pang karapatan naniniwala ba siya na ang Kongreso ay merong karapatang mag-on ng budget ng anumang ahensya yun po ang tanong ko sagutin po niya yes or no aon aya ni sagutin ng yes or no sabihin niya saakin ang sagot niya kanina ng paulit-ulit sa lahat ng mga tanong ng ating mga kig I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives deci on the proposal as presented Madam ch Maraming maraming salamat po Ibig sabihin po yung kasagutan niya na paulit-ulit naniniwala siya na merong kabatan ang kongresong ito naize ang budget kahit ang budget na yan nagsimula ng 2023 meron pa R karapatan ang kongresong ito nautin ang budget Maraming maraming salamat Madam ch Maraming salamat po vice president Salamat next to interpolate is honorable Richard Gomez is not around so we mve to the honorable DX cardama Thank you madam ch Good evening po VP sar po ay mga kinatawan ng taongbayan na nakakakuha ng libo-libong boto ng pilipino Kayo po ang most voted National official sa kasaysayan ng bansang ito pinakakatawan po ninyo ang kagustuhan ng pinakamaraming milyong-milyong Pilipino at bilang isang mataas na opisyal ng armed forces of the Philippines reserve force ano pong masasabi niyo sa mga kaalyado ng NPA na nakapasok sa gobyerno at ginagamit ng pondo ng gobyerno para tumulong sa pagpatay sa ating mga pulis at sundalo at i-recruit ang mga kabataang pilipino alam Vice President um representative gema I thank you for your question I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Maraming salamat po Vice President inong paglaban sa leftist groups at sa NPA na pumapatay sa ating mga pulis at sundalo nabiktima sa sambayang Pilipino Maraming salamat po Maam next to interpolate is the honorable mit Um thank you so much madam Chair and Uh Good evening to our Vice President Actually Uh this representation will not Uh interpolate since um the the responses of the vice president has been Uh the same however Uh I just want to make a manifestation that Uh if possible if we may request that Uh all the responses and ung mga ano po will not um parang out of Emotions yun lang po kasi when I cut here medyo may mga ano na po eh May mga nag-iinit na yyung mga discussions and everything so ang hinihiling ko lamang po sa talaga is kasi may mga may ahensya pa na nag anay na na Alam nating importante rin ang Office of the ombudsman kaya po sana nung kanina kaya po ako ay nagpa-register dahil gusto ko lamang po sana na magbase tayo doon sa talagang mandato para sa atin ako po nung nasa isang ahensya tinitingan ko po na ang pagtawag ng ah ng kongreso para po umattend ng isang budget hearing Ito po ay ang pinakamataas na form na na at ito na rin po ang pinakamataas na call ng ah ng kongreso para po sa pag sabi nga po pag scrutinize Siguro po ah Alam nating lahat na ah ito na po yung pinakaimportante at role ng bawat ah ah inel para dito po kaya nga po ang Kongreso ay ang ah may power of the purse dahil nga po ito po yung mandato ng binigay po sa atin however kung at tayo po ay mag ah mag exchange ng ating mga Emotions these are all Uh simply allegations or Ito po yung opinyon lamang pero kung pwede po sana ay ah sumagot po tayo ng naaayon since Ito naman po ay talagang Duty natin at ito po ang ibinabalik sa atin ng ating mga ng mga ah bumoto rin po sa atin so ang ah Pakiusap ko po sana ay ah Huwag tingnan na mag kumbaga parang your the other side of the pence Hindi po tayo rito nagkakaroon ng Uh ng Ah yung batuhan ng kung ano man ang ang ang hinihingi po natin dito ay konkretong response Ayon po sa ating ah responsibilidad nating ah ibigay sa taong bayan Kung paano po natin matalinong ginasta ang buis ng taong bayan Salamat po Salamat next is honorable romeo ako is not here so we move to our deputy majority leader the honorable Janet Garin Thank you very much madam Chair and a pleasant Good evening to our honorable Vice President Yeah Ma'am um we you have Actually commendable programs the medical assistance program educational assistance burial assistance magnegosyo Tay um but I Believe It's a nationwide coverage So may we know how our constituents can apply for this program Madam chair I will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented so my madam chair if the honorable vice president will agree um Meron po ba tayong mga areas kung saan pwedeng mag-apply let's say if we are from the Visayas um where can our constituents apply for this kind of program and the possibility of having the um requirements to apply for such assistance Madam chair Yes maam I will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal with question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Yeah Madam cheer for the information of our good vice president I'm not objecting to the program I'm merely asking for the requirements so that if people would like to avail They would know where to go and how to go about it so Madam Cher my Next question is on the educational assistance um let's say if we have the serving and poor students and they have existing CHED scholarship can they apply for additional um educational assistance in such program Madam chair I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Yeah Thank you madam Vice President Madam chair on the kalusugan food track pansar um does this also cover parts of the Visayas or is it only limited to NCR President Yes ma'am I will Uh forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented so Madam chair my Next question is on the magn to die which is livelihood is Actually part of economic upliftment um are there parameters by where msmes can apply for this mam Vice President Madam chair I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide the proposal as presented Thank you madam Vice President Uh Madam ch in the government website It's says as the second highest public office in the land the office of the vice president shall work for the welfare of the Filipino people and contribute to Nation building economic development and political stability by fostering fidelity to the constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and upholding the highest office and that is the office of the President May we hear the wisdom of Uh the vice president on this matter Madam ch go the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal we question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Thank you madam chair on the rice food bags considering that Iloilo and Western Visayas is a rice producing province can our Farmers contribute to this rice program so that they will have an adequate market with the adequate price mam Vice President Yes um Madam chair will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal the question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Thank you madam Vice President um Madam chair the dpm in its proposed budget mentions that [Musika] Uh The Mission of the office of the price president is to promote economic development political stability and fostering fidelity to the constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and upholding the highest standard of professionalism In The Civil Service it further says that in the sector outcome promote Political and social economic development consistent with state policies and government priorities and thrust my question Madam ch is the honorable vice president um amendable to this or do we need to amend portions of this Madam Vice President Madam chair I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented so Madam chair I do respect the contention of the vice president my last question is to the honorable chair Yeah as it was mentioned earlier Madam chair I am not sure but can you appraise us in the history of the Congress of the Philippines during Budget briefings and deliberations has the committee on appropriations ever detained any Resource person never Thank you very much madam ch Maraming salamat po Vice President Thank you very much Salamat next to interp is the h Vice chair Claudio Bautista finish um first round first so which so next is the honorable Geraldine Roman Thank you very much madam Cher Magandang gabi po sa ating lahat Magandang gabi po sa ating Vice President um I just want to express a little bit of my disappointment and frustration kasi I really wanted to be Enlighten regarding specific programs in particular Uh those very very creative programs ah which is Actually my favorite yung magnegosyo tad no which will benefit a l of women which is part of my advocacies as well as lgbt community but I guess our honorable Vice President to just give me the same answer so let me just manifest my disappointment parang pumasok po ako sa meeting na to na may katanungan pero lalabas po ako na kasagutan and even more questions um I feel compelled to express my deep sense of regret over the way our discussions have unfolded today Uh Sayang ang pagkakataon this Uh hearing Was supposed to be a crucial forum for us to ensure that the public funds are allocated wisely and effectively no however instead of gaining Clarity and insight needed to make informed decisions we find ourselves caught in a cycle of verbal disputes and personal attacks and I'm just pointing at one side only it maybe both sides possibly and also formula answers scripted answers and even insinuations that we are following a script Napakadali lang naman pong sumagot Bakit kinakailangan pa nating hold us in doubt and keep us in the dark so given the lack of substantive answers provided us I'm left with concerns on how we as members of the Congress can make an informed decision regarding the budget of the office of the vice president and how we can follow our mandate If there is an apparent lack of cooperation because to say that there is an answer which is not really an answer because it does not shed light it does not give Clarity it does not address the specific concerns We may question in fact certain issues of Whether it is valid to discuss the confidential funds or not but How about our questions katulad nung questions ni representative Garin those are valid questions I think dapat they merit also an answer so hindi ko na po pagpapatuloy ang aking pagtatanong eh Ganon naman po ang magiging sagot Sana po eh nagkaroon tayo ng Clarity That is my sincere wish talaga ba just Clarity ESP especially doun sa mga budget items ng 2025 na sa una I Willing naman ang office Vice President to answer and so graciously no ilit kung inuunawa Baka naman physically exhausted ng ating Resource person I could hear that her voice is already namamaos ano but ah Alam ko malakas naman siyang tao malakas siyang babae with great resistance so nanghinayang po ako k pagka kataon na ito ah with that Madam share I leave it also to to this committee how to figure out how can we come up with an informed decision with this kind of formula answer Thank you very much madam ch Salamat next is the honorable Judas idre Thank you madam chair Good afternoon Madam good evening Madam Vice President I will be asking questions about the 2025 budget given the position of the office of the vice president could the honorable vice president kindly Enlighten this committee on how the proposed budget reflects the core mandate of the office of the vice president we are sincerely eager to understand how resources will be used to fulfill the cri responsibilities particular mandate of the vice president Madam ch Madam chair will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 by question and answer I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented you can find all the answers in the audiovisual presentation in our submission of documents Uh to the Uh secretariat in the Powerpoint presentation and in opening statement I will leave it to the house to decide on the proposal Madam chair with the significant budget being requested by the office of the vice president this committee is I Believe keen to hear about the tangible successes by the ovp programs TH far will this budget ensure that such commendable progress continues I'm referring to the budget requested for 2025 mam share will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget by question and answer and I we leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Madam chair I Believe We are all familiar with the constitutional mandate of the vice president And that's why we'd want to know if the honorable vice president could clarify how the proposed Budget allocation and the programs that it supports are aligned with this constitutional mandate of Vice President we're confident that the budget is a perfect reflection of the Vice President's priorities and the offices essential duties Madam Vice President Yes madam chair the answers are in the AVP presentation the opening statement the documents that We submitted to the secretariat and the Powerpoint presentation I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 25 budget proposal by question and answer and I we leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Thank you madam chair Madam chair in the spirit of collaboration could the vice president also share how the ovp works with other agencies to avoid duplication and ensure the efficient use of public funds We Trust that the budget is also a reflection of such strategic coordination Vice President Madam chair will forgo the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 Uh budget proposal Uh by question and answer na we leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Madam chair Uh considering the careful thought that must have gone into crafting the budget of the ovp would the vice president explain the rational behind specific allocations we are particularly interested in how this Figures especially the amount arrived considering that Uh the vice president has a national mandate and how it was Uh computed so as to translate into meaningful outcomes for the public Madam ch Madam Vice President Yes madam chair I will forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal the question and answer and I will leave it to the house of representatives to decide on the proposal as presented Madam chair Uh the honorable vice president has repeatedly mentioned that she will forgo Uh the right to personally defend the budget through a question and answer format How should this committee interpret such a decision would it be fair to conclude Madam chair that the programs under the ovp may not be as High a priority or as important as we had hoped for or should we interpret the response and the the meaner of the vice president indicates that we elected representatives of the people and the people that we represent do not deserve an explanation on how public funds would be spent by their office Madam chair Madam Vice President Yes madam chair all the answers are in the audiovisual presentation the documents that We submitted to the committee secretariat the opening statement and the PowerPoint Uh presentation um I did not say forg the rights I said forg the opportunity to defend Thank Thank you madam Vice President because I think it's not our right to explain our budget It's our Duty To Explain our budget Uh That's all Madam Chair and I leave and this I will have to say I leave it to the committee to consider the responses of our honorable vice president in the approve of the budget of the Salamat before we move to round two just a short manifestation on my part with a kind indulgence of my colleagues kanina po nabanggit ang pangalan ko kasama ni kong France nung Meron pong nagtanong kung bakit may 125 million para sa fourth quarter taong 2023 na hindi po ginamit ng ating pangalawang pangulo um nabanggit ang pangalan ko ang I think I Believe ang sinabi po ni Madam vice president is that tila may lumalabas na po na pattern Simula nung araw na nagsagutan po kami sa plenaryo na lumabas po na 11 days lamang ang period na kung saan ginamit po ang pondo amounting to 125 million I just want to state for the record that that was in no way landed action on my part that was the most difficult Moment In My five years in Congress tinanong ako ng isang tanong I just had to say the truth nakabase sa liquidation report at kitang-kita niyo naman doon po sa nakakita na po ng notice of this allowance na ginamit po siya from December 21 to 31 at pagbilang po natin ang mga araw na iyan mula 21 hanggang 31 ay indeed 11 days So yun lang po I just want to state that on record that on my part um Simula nung moment na iyon ay naging Napakahirap ng buhay ko no rational human being would ever want to plan her life that way so there's Absolutely no way that that can be planned on my part just for the record and so with that I move on to the second round um the honorable Raul Manuel is recognized ah Thank you madam chair Madam chair Uh kasi I started with questions on the deped confidential funds for 2023 think ko madam chair if the Resource person is proud of her accomplishments sa counterinsurgency tsaka anti-terror efforts she should avail of this opportunity To Explain na sana kasi di naman na siya kasama sa upcoming na dep ed budget briefing this will also set a bad precedent na kung nag-resign ka sa isang posisyon ay hindi ka na pwedeng matanong sa kung paano ka nag Paano ka Gumamit ng pondo na ikaw din naman yung nag-propose also Madam chair Uh Iyung DepEd confidential funds that's in line with her role as ntf ka-vice chair Kahit nga wala naman yung posisyon na yun sa eo70 of 2018 pero given na ganun ka aktibo ang ah B presidente sa ganong usapin so Madam Cher again gusto lang nating i-present na yung table natin kanina kasi ah doon natin mapapakita na meron ding lumilitaw na pattern gaya ng na- ras ni Congresswoman sonsing Dito naman sa DepEd confidential funds may pattern din so ah ma-pr present po sana natin ang table ayan ah balik po Ayan Oo 37.5 million no sa bawat quarter ganun po ka- exact Madam chair pero similarly sa ah nabanggit din kanina ni Cong Rod kahit sa DepEd Madam chair for 2023 fourth quarter hindi na rin ginamit Iyung ah confidential funds for dep ed kaya Madam chair can we confirm sa part po ng kaa I'll address this Question to kaa na nag-issue po kayo ng audit observation memo for DepEd confidential funds for Third Quarter of 2023 mam Vice President Ah it's asano Madam chair um I have no personal knowledge about the audit of Intel and confidential fund But maybe it's in the compliance report submitted by kaa to the sub issued by the house of representatives so Hindi po ah Wala pong knowledge ang ating ah rep ng from kaa na nabanggit po doon and I quote the propriety of the transactions could not be ascertained as the submitted liquidation reports were not fully supported with complete and proper documentations as required under joint circular number 20101 hindi po ninyo iyun mako-contact see in this budget briefing so supposedly you can confirm or yung ilan sa mga nas site na galing din naman sa kaa I have the records your honor about of the transactions and the details of the audit Madam ch I think the answer will not suffice can we request or even give a brief amount of time from our representative from kaa ang tungkol po sa matter na ito para po ma-confirm nila Madam chair as already explained earlier my the purpose of my Presence here is to um give the rationale about the compliance of kaa to the sub stom I'm not Uh the official Who supervises the intelligence and confidential audit unit because it is a dedic unit solely for confidential funds It could not be seen by other officials Except the staff of the intelligence and confidential funds audit unit Okay so Ganito na lang Madam chair since ang basis po natin ay galing din naman sa documents na pinov ng kaa dahil do sa ating sapina sa stum then I move Madam ch na kung meron ng updates from kaa regard the deficiencies of the office of the vice president sa DepEd confidential funds for Third Quarter of 2023 I formally ma-inform po ang committee on appropriations so move Madam chair I reiterate my motion it's an action fora Madam ch Yes to provide Us with updates given naon siyang audit observation memo on Uh that confidential fund ibig sabihin ongoing pa yung evaluation process then kapag may mga updates ay formally i-provide yyun sa committee Madam chair um if we rule on the motion Uh ascom is this something that can be done if it's a pending Uh audit Uh it is within the Exception of the um co circular on um on the release of documents I said Madam chair after ibig sabihin agag may mga concrete updates na saka magprovide ng update sa commit na ito so we will give will allow kaa to proceed with DU course sa dapat pa niyang gawin After that audit observation memo t's kung may concrete updates Madam chair yun yyung i-provide dito sa comite Okay so ascom could you um submit as required by the honorable Manuel Madam chair Uh We will um wait for the official Uh document Uh from the house of from the committee on appropriations and then we will um study it and Uh Uh comply if Uh There's no legal Uh impediment or violation of our own rules Is that a sufficient response yeah I think that would suffice Madam chair Thank you next topic Madam chair since ang gusto ng ovp 205 budget mapag-usapan din natin siya maliban sa past budgets Madam ch i' like to discuss yung 10 million project na children's book Madam ch dahil ayaw din po ng Resource person ng question and answer then ang paraan ko na lang po ay hindi pa tanong tell the committee Sino po ang editor ng children's book na ito Madam vice president mam chair all the answers are walaan doon sa opening statement I forg the opportunity to defend the office of the vice president 2025 budget proposal by question and answer and house name of the auditor of the children's book y ang nyari res person to tell the name Pero ah baka hindi pa ndis Ano yung tanong ano yung Hindi pero since ayaw pong ibigay yung name ng editor ng children's book Ito kasi yung point natin Madam Cher Uh the book contains many errors Sige po pakita po natin ah Kasama po diyan dahon ng Banahaw Wala naman pong dahon ng Banahaw baka Anahaw po yung tinutukoy yung word na sila Dapat po sina tapos yung walang awa Dapat nga may Hen po yan tapos madam nakalagay din yung pugad daw ng kwago ay nakapatong sa sanga Madam Cher sabi ng mga eksperto ang ess hindi po y nakapatong sa sanga nasa either butas po yan ng mga puno or nasa ilalim ng lupa next Madam chair This book is not child friendly as per writers kasi pag children's book Madam Cher hindi lang yyung text Iyung mahalaga pati yung visuals Madam chair So yung illustrations are not cohesive para yung elements tinatong lang sa background tapos low value ito for Uh illustrations kasi Madam Sher Kahit nga yung pangalan ng illustrators ay maliit compared doon sa pangalan ng author Well in fact for a children's book magkasing bigat po ang papel ng Illustrator tsaka ng author also Madam Cher sa content nagi-impluwensiya lang dapat yung bata na binabasa yung libro so Madam share this book na pino-propose na pondohan and Actually ang topic na nga natin 2025 budget ah gusto ng Resource person we limit to the 2025 budget pero hindi pa rin sinasagot but this book Madam Cher will just contribute to the worsening of the the learning Crisis Hindi po siya Actually Ay makabata ano kaya Madam Cher Uh ah before i end sa second round kasi kanina meron din pong ad hominy sa atin meron pang disinformation about this representation Madam Cher kung okay lang naman yung mga libro at halimba kung totoo pa ngayong sinasabi about me I would even suggest ovp dagdagan yung budget baka makalimang libro pa ang ah B presidente pwede pa nga may special edition tungkol sa kwento ng buhay ko pero given Madam chair na hindi din talaga pumapa sa standards ng pagsusulat ng libro and I also think Madam Cher na throughout this hearing hindi successfully na-end yung budget ng office of the vice president so ako personally I'm inclined na hindi natin i-terminate yung budget briefing for the office of the vice president So yun na lang muna Madam ch Maraming Salamat madam ch Yes mad Vice President Yes ma'am the name of the editor of the book is Raul Manuel It's a joke Maam you it out of the record if you want next to interpolate is the honorable Jefferson kgh Good evening Vice good evening Madam chair Good evening VP um I take a strong Exception ano d sa sinabi ni VP kanina na nagkakabuhol-buhol na yung script kasi sa totoo lang wala naman tayong script dito um Ano ang ibig sabihin ng ating VP no ah is she accusing Congress Ang saakin lang is dapat ready i-prove ang ating ah vice president Otherwise we should Strike It Off the record So may i move right now to Strike It Off the record Madam chair yung ah salitang nagkakabuhol-buhol na yung script objection hearing none same is approved second um Vice chair nakakalungkot Kasi Ah nandito tayo lahat para para tayo malinawan kung ano talaga yyung nangyari lalong-lalo na sa budget ng vice president pagdating sa confidential confidential fund and yung budget niya ngayong 2025 kaya lang hindi na rin ako magtatanong kasi alam ko paulit ulit din yung kanyang isasagot so nakaka-frustrate lang dahil ito ay pera ng taong bayan I would like to thank the vice president for showing her true colors to the house and her lack of respect for check and balances and the separation of powers and accountability we are a republic we don't have a king or a queen now Madam chair dahil hindi naman masagot ni VP sar yung mga tanungan ng miyembro May i move now to differ the hearing of the budget of the office of the vice president i sove Is there any objection hearing none same is approved so the hearing or the briefing the budget briefing shall be rescheduled or shall continue on sept number 10 at 9:00 a.m. so that the budget briefing is suspended Excuse me Madam chair Madam chair I still have I still have a the time can can can I can I can i express my time it there was a motion I have still a time Just Just Just for one minute I just want to ask the vice president I just want to ask the vice president about something Madam ch let's give her him the chance I think we should first withdraw the motion to def then there's give him a chance to ask question Madam ch Suspended na put but we part on September 10 just for one minute Just for one minute Just for one minute Just Just for one minute because I just want to ask the vice president something eh Ang bilis kasi eh