Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 12: Ex-auditor says P200M confidential funds lacked documents

Lawyer Roderick Wamil, a former state auditor with the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO), returned to the witness stand on Tuesday to testify on the disbursement of more than P200 million in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Vice President Sara Duterte’s tenure as education secretary.

Prosecution

During the prosecution's presentation of evidence, Wamil testified that at least P129 million of the OVP's P250-million confidential fund allocation for the first and second quarters of 2023 lacked supporting documents proving that the disbursements were made for their intended purposes, in violation of Joint Circular No. 2015-01 governing the use of confidential and intelligence funds.

According to Wamil, the unsupported disbursements included purchases of medicines and food assistance, as well as the payment of rewards and incentives for travel related to confidential operations, whose authenticity could not be verified due to the absence of the required documentation.

Wamil also testified that the Department of Education failed to submit supporting documents for the disbursement of P112.5 million in confidential funds in 2023, which were reportedly used for the following:

• Counter-insurgency programs (P9.375 million in Q1; P9.3 million in Q2; P9.2 million in Q3)
• Abuse prevention and control within schools (P10 million in Q1; P10.075 million in Q2; P10.125 million in Q3)
• Anti-illegal activities operations (P9 million in Q1; P9.1 million in Q2; P9.14 million in Q3)
• Anti-extremism/terrorism programs (P9.125 million in Q1; P9.025 million in Q2; P9.035 million in Q3)

Further, Wamil said that the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte sought an exemption from a 2015 COA joint circular that sets the guidelines for auditing confidential funds by requesting that the commission issue an "audit query" instead of an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) for the agencies' disbursement of confidential funds.

These accounts by Wamil prompted private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan to say that such confidential fund disbursement by the Vice President’s office and the DepEd under her leadership was a scam.

The prosecution panel later said that Wamil’s testimony remains undisputed even amid cross-examination by the defense team.

Defense

In response, Poa presented a letter showing that Vice President Sara Duterte was not the only vice president to receive confidential funds, noting that then Vice President Jejomar Binay's office was also granted a confidential fund allocation in 2014.

Poa argued that this contradicted Wamil's testimony that only Duterte had been given confidential funds as vice president.

However, Binay's 2014 confidential fund allocation predated Joint Circular No. 2015-01, which was issued in 2015 and established the guidelines governing the use, liquidation, and audit of confidential and intelligence funds.

Also on Tuesday, Poa asked the Senate impeachment court to strike Kapunan's scam comments off the record for being "out of line."

His objection was sustained by Senate impeachment court Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

Poa argued that Wamil's findings that the disbursements failed to comply with the guidelines under Joint Circular No. 2015-01 were merely preliminary, as they were contained in an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM). He stressed that the observations in an AOM do not, by themselves, establish that confidential funds were misused.

Impeachment court

Meanwhile, Escudero ordered the issuance of a new subpoena for COA-ICFAO official Xylene Del Campo, valid from August 5 to 11, 2026. She will be the next witness to be presented by the House prosecution panel to testify on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.

Escudero likewise confirmed the receipt of the House prosecution panel’s motion for judicial notice, and ordered the Defense to either deliver an oral opposition or comment on the matter, or submit a written response by Wednesday.

He also granted the request of the prosecution for a conference before the Clerk of Court for the rescheduling of the marking of evidence on Wednesday, August 5, at 4 pm. —With reports from Giselle Ombay and Sundy Locus/LDF, GMA News