Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. has likened the questioned use of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education under Vice President Sara Duterte to “ghost projects,” emphasizing that key details regarding the disbursements remain completely unverified.
Abante highlighted the P612.5 million in total confidential funds allocated to the OVP and DepEd, which are now a central focus of Duterte’s impeachment trial before the Senate. He noted that the lack of clear explanations regarding how the money was spent makes the allocations comparable to infrastructure projects that exist solely on paper.
“Sa akin, parang ghost project na lahat iyan,” Abante said.
The controversy stems from the House of Representatives’ 2024 investigation, which uncovered the spending of P125 million in OVP confidential funds in just 11 days in 2022, as well as acknowledgment receipts featuring highly questionable recipient names such as “Mary Grace Piattos.”
While Abante recognized that confidential funds naturally involve secrecy, he maintained that operational confidentiality should never bypass constitutional oversight or statutory auditing bodies.
“Dapat i-reveal kung saan ibinigay, kung kanino ibinigay ang confidential fund na iyan, kung paano ginamit iyan at kung tama ang paggamit,” he stressed. “Sikreto sa taumbayan iyan, pero hindi dapat maging sikreto iyan sa COA.”
He recalled that lawmakers were repeatedly open to receiving sensitive data away from public cameras if legitimate national security issues were involved, offering alternative settings to inspect the receipts.
“Open naman kami na magkaroon ng executive session para talagang malaman natin,” Abante said, noting that an executive session would have allowed Congress to review the identities of recipients without exposing operational details.
Moving forward, Abante voiced support for stricter oversight safeguards that will enable both Congress and the Commission on Audit to thoroughly inspect confidential expenditures while maintaining necessary classifications for genuine security matters.