House panel seeks testimony of COA auditor on VP Sara's confidential funds

The House justice committee formally sought Wednesday the testimony of lawyer Gloria Camora of the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO), as well as the COA-ICFAO’s findings on the use of confidential funds by Office of the Vice President and during the Sara Duterte’s tenure as Education chief.

This developed after the House panel approved the motion put forward by House Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima of ML party-list during Day 1 of the impeachment hearing which seeks to determine probable cause to impeach the Vice President.

“This representation confirms that I filed yesterday, March 24, with the Committee on Justice and with a copy furnished to the respondent by the Committee Secretary, a request for the issuance of subpoena duces tecum and ad testificandum for one, Attorney Gloria Camora of the COA-ICFAO, to produce, identify and authenticate official COA audit records, including liquidation reports, disbursement vouchers, certifications and related submissions of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education pertaining to the disposition of the confidential funds for the years 2022 and 2023,” De Lima said.

“The subpoena is just for Attorney Gloria Camora [among COA officials] for the moment because she is the custodian of these COA records and documents pertaining to confidential funds,” De Lima, one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaints against the Vice President, added.

De Lima cited that the Vice President’s alleged misuse of the P612.5 million of confidential funds is one of the impeachable offenses stated in the third impeachment complaint filed by Rev. Fr. Bong Saballa, among others, which the House justice panel found sufficient in form, substance and grounds.

De Lima said the subpoena for the COA-ICFAO records covers the period from 2022 to 2023, the period when the Office of the Vice President and the Education Department under Education Secretary Duterte received confidential funds.

De Lima maintained that while an Education chief is not an impeachable officer, the Vice President’s actions as Education Secretary cannot be separated from her actions as Vice President.

“You don't distinguish the actions made, especially the anomalous actions and the impeachable offenses made [just] because it pertains to [her tenure in] the Department of Education. What if the Vice President kills someone? It doesn't say it's in relation to her office as Vice President and as DepEd Secretary,” De Lima, a former Justice Secretary, said.

"She has one persona. She is the same person,” she added.

De Lima’s motion to subpoena COA documents and a state auditor gathered 29 yes votes, one no vote and zero abstentions.

“The motion is granted. The committee is directed to issue the necessary subpoena duces tecum and subpoena ad testificandum to Attorney Gloria Camora and with respect as well to the production of pertinent documents on confidential fund of both the DepEd and the Office of the Vice President in 2022 and 2023. So ruled,” House justice committee chairperson and Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro said after the voting. 

Other motions for subpoena ad testificandum (compel the attendance of a witness for a testimony) and duces tecum (compel the production of documents before the committee) which were granted by the House justice panel on Wednesday include: 

• motion to subpoena Philippine Statistics Authority representative and civil registry records of the recipient of confidential funds
• motion to subpoena records of NBI investigation on the threats made by the Vice President to the President in an expletive-filled video
• motion to subpoena Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth of the Vice President
• motion to subpoena the findings of the House good government and public accountability panel during its 2024 inquiry on the budget use of the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education during the term of the Vice President as Education Secretary
• motion to subpoena confessed Vice President Sara’s bagman Ramil Madriaga, Madriaga’s counsel and Madriaga’s affidavit
• motion to provide additional security for Madriaga during the days he will testify before the House justice panel
• motion to subpoena lawyer Michael Poa, the former spokesperson and Chief of Staff of Vice President Sara Duterte during the years where the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education were allocated at least P612.5 million confidential funds
• motion to subpoena Bureau of Internal Revenue and other tax records of the Vice President and her businesses with her husband, Manases Carpio and
• motion to subpoena Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records of the Vice President's businesses with her husband, Manases Carpio

— RSJ, GMA Integrated News