There is a hue and cry from the usual suspects (meaning the perennial nagging and boisterous critics of political targets with popular appeal) vis-a-vis the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education concurrently headed by Inday Sara.
Two lawmakers, one from the lower house of Congress and the other from the Senate, have raised their voices against the use of confidential funds in both her offices. The two are in opposition and notoriously known for finding faults in every official act done or intended to do by whatever administration holding the reins of the government.
They usually slam political figures with mass appeal because of their charisma and sterling public service performance, which they sorely lack. They hope that creating disparaging intrigues against these public icons could taint their mass appeal and dethrone them from their political pedestal. Evidently, these intriguers cannot achieve the latter’s imminence in their lifetimes.
These unrepentant whiners claim that the P125 million confidential fund that the OVP requested last year, which was part of the P221.4 million allocation transferred to the OVP by the Office of the President, was unconstitutional.
Expectedly, not being lawyers, their claim of its unconstitutionality is a mere allegation, as they have not proffered arguments or proof to validate their theory, as correctly pointed out by the redoubtable lawyer Inday Sara. The latter describes the allegation of unconstitutionality as amusing and wishful thinking.
An impertinent former staff of a former VP claims that his boss did not use confidential funds during her term, and yet she was able to perform her constitutional duty, completely forgetting her lackluster performance and obstructionist stance in the previous administration.
In contrast, the current VP is not only supportive of the President but is an indefatigable public servant, intolerant of corruption like her father, a nemesis of the terrorist communist rebels, and works efficiently and quietly sans publicity.
She is a thinking and creative Secretary of Education and Vice President who has innovative programs geared toward protecting vulnerable youthful students and destroying the enemies of the state who prey on those young, impressionable minds.
She imparts out-of-the-box solutions to provide quality education and create a protective mantle over them against those who will take advantage of their innocence, naïveté, idealism, and youthful exuberance — hence the need for confidential funds.
The transfer of confidential funds from the Office of the President to the Department of Education or the Office of the Vice President is not unlawful. The President has the authority to use the confidential funds in the manner he deems fit for the country’s security. If he transfers a part of it to any department of the Executive Branch for the same security purposes, then it is the same allowed disbursement of funds.
The confidential and intelligence fund is designed to secure the state from internal and external threats. When such fund is used precisely for the same purpose by any department as authorized by the President, then there can be no constitutional overreach.
These negative forces should stop making a hullabaloo of the confidential and intelligence fund as a convenient and vexing excuse to call attention to themselves. They should focus on their legislative work and quit grandstanding.