What does the current spasm in the body politic over the latest manifestations of corruption indicate but that the more things change, the more they remain the same? It wasn’t too long ago when such types as “Pogi,” “Sexy” and “Tanda” were hogging the news, having been accused of receiving ₱224.5 million, ₱183.8 million, and...
Tag: confidential funds
Post
Five things to watch out for in the 20th Congress
1. Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial: Will it finally happen? The next round of the Marcos-Duterte family feud was expected to play out in Congress. But the Dutertes scored a win—and the possibility of a reprieve until February 2026, or even longer—in Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that temporarily banned an impeachment trial. The Marcos-controlled House...
Post
Sara’s impeachment trial, Baste’s boxing bout, and the (worsening) floods of our lives
Vice President Sara Duterte and her younger brother, Acting Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte of Davao City, have managed to evade confrontations of their making. The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the verified impeachment complaint transmitted by the House of Representatives to the Senate in February is unconstitutional, providing the Vice President a reprieve from...
Post
Hontiveros: Senate should adopt House realignment of secret funds
The Senate can do “no less” than adopt the House of Representatives’ realignment of P1.23-billion in confidential funds in the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday. “The House has taken the first step institutionally. So I think we in the Senate can do no less because we actually started...
Post
When public money is spent confidentially
The Office of Vice President Sara Duterte has denied her involvement in the recent disruption of traffic on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City purportedly to allow her convoy to pass unhampered. By then the video showing all sorts of vehicles at full stop on the busy avenue had, in the common parlance, gone viral, accompanied...
Post
What to Know: Are confidential funds secret funds not subject to audit?
The use of confidential funds (CF) by the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte, concurrently the secretary of education, continues to be in the news and in social media posts. While most of the comments dwell on the P125 million in confidential funds supposedly spent in an 11-day period in December 2022, among the other...