COA affirms disallowance of P73M OVP confidential funds release in 2022

The Commission on Audit has affirmed the notice of disallowance on the Office of the Vice President's disbursement of P73 million in confidential funds from December 21 to 31, 2022, an officer of the COA's Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office told the House Committee on Justice on Tuesday.

At the hearing on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, Atty. Gloria Camora answered yes when asked by Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno if the affirmation meant the OVP should return the P73 million to the public coffers.

“It just means po that they did not comply with the joint circular. What is required under the joint circular is documentary evidence of payment,” Camora said.

“Hindi po na-prove na ‘yung expenditures were used for confidential activities,” she added.

(They were not able to prove that the expenditures were used for confidential activities.)

Camora also told the impeachment hearing that the office issued three more notices covering P375 million in confidential fund expenses of the OVP in 2023. 

COA Assistant Commissioner Alexander Juliano earlier told the House during a budget deliberation that a notice of disallowance meant that the expenditure was “either irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable.”

Camora then said an issuance of a notice of disallowance meant the OVP’s liquidation reports on confidential fund were not in compliance with the 2015 Joint Circular governing the use of confidential and intelligence funds.

Under the said circular, confidential funds must be used for the following: 

• purchase of information necessary for the formulation and implementation of programs, activities, and projects relevant to the national security and peace and order;
• rental of vehicles related to confidential activities;
• rentals and the incidental expenses related to the maintenance of safehouses;
• purchase or rental of supplies, materials, and equipment for confidential operations that cannot be done through regular procedures without compromising the information gathering activity concerned; and
• payment of rewards to informers (non-employee of the concerned government agency).

These purposes for confidential fund use, however, are subject to the following conditions:

• approval by the head of the agency/government-owned and controlled corporation;
• supported with documents evidencing the success of the information gathering and/or surveillance activities on account of the information given by the informer;
• directly related to the conduct of the specific confidential activities of authorized agencies; and
• uncover/prevent illegal activities that pose a clear and present danger to agency personnel/property, or other facilities and resources under the agency protection, done in coordination with the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Insufficient proof

The COA stated that the documents submitted by the OVP are insufficient to prove how the P73 million in confidential funds were spent.

Consequently, the OVP is reportedly being ordered to return the P73 million to the national treasury.

“So ang ibig po sabihin niyan ay sa mata ng COA, yung mga pondong iyon, iyong mga confidential funds na iyon, ay dapat ibabalik ng mga nabanggit ninyong opisyal beginning with Vice President Duterte and the others that you mentioned dahil nga walang naging basehan sa kanilang paggamit, am I correct?” House Deputy Minority Leader Chel Diokno asked. 

Camora responded: “Yes, madam chair.” 

COA’s decision is now final. However, the OVP can still appeal the matter to the Supreme Court.

COA also revealed that another notice of disallowance has been sent to the OVP— this pertains to the P375 million in confidential funds for the first, second, and third quarters of 2023.  The OVP is required to provide a formal response to this. 

Similar signatures 

Before COA’s statement, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) released its forensic investigation of the acknowledgement receipts, which supposedly serve as proof of who received the confidential funds of DepEd during Duterte’s tenure as its secretary, as well as those of the OVP. 

The NBI stated that while the names are different, the signatures of several recipients appear to be identical. This includes the signatures of Sally Rendon and Sheila Dado.

Furthermore, these signatures for four different names also showed similarities in form, line stroke direction, and manner of execution, the NBI said. 

Regarding the receipts of Annaliza Ziño and Ken Naso, the NBI further claims that the dates were written by the same person.

“The two signatures reveal significant similarities in the patterns of the letters, pati po sa alignment. When we say alignment, it's the relationship of the signature with the printed name, where the habit of the writer is the same and in the manner of execution of the strokes, indicating that these two signatures were written by one and the same person, although they are two different names,” said NBI expert Carolyn Moldez-Pitoy. 

The NBI stated that it is possible that only seven individuals wrote or signed the 36 receipts analysed by their forensic examiners.

“There are seven groups of handwritten receipts that were found to be written by one and the same person. Pitong magkakagrupo po, na bawat grupo, isang tao lang ang sumulat,” said Moldez-Pitoy. 

The vice president’s confidential fund receipts reached over four thousand, but the NBI only examined 36 at the COA office, as these were reportedly the only ones selected and provided to them by the House of Representatives.

“It was technically randomly given for purposes of examination.  The 4,000 documents, some of them were duplicates, some of them were not submitted for examination because there is a duplication already,” said NBI director Melvin Matibag. 

Lawmakers have been questioning the confidential fund receipts since last year, including those under the name of a certain “Mary Grace Piattos.” 

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reaffirmed that “Mary Grace Piattos” has no existing record of birth, death, or marriage.

The same applies to the names 'Kokoy Villamin' and 'Milky Secuya.'

Out of the more than  2,000 names submitted by the House of Representatives to the PSA for verification, over 1,000 were found to have no record of birth, death, or marriage.

“Sir, as I mentioned po limited yung information because it's only the names. So I cannot say na 100% accurate yung negative results po,” said PSA assistant national statistician Marizza Grande.–NB, GMA Integrated News