OVP confi fund recipients include 'Kamote,' 'Mango,' 'Keso'; COA found no accomplishments

Names resembling a root crop, fruit and cheese were among those listed as recipients of confidential fund disbursements by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2023, a state auditor testified Tuesday.

Commission on Audit (COA) state auditor Xylene del Campo of the Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) made the disclosure on Day 14 of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Del Campo said documents submitted by the OVP failed to show specific accomplishments that would justify the payment of rewards for confidential information.

She also flagged inadequate documentation for expenses supposedly incurred for supplies used in confidential operations.

Del Campo also identified acknowledgment receipts purportedly signed by recipients bearing the same surnames as some senator-judges, including “Escudero,” “Hontiveros,” “Estrada” and “Lapid.”

Acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP as liquidation documents included the following recipients:

• ₱500,000 — Feonna Villegas
• ₱500,000 — Clarisse Hontiveros
• ₱350,000 — Honeylet Camille Sy
• ₱250,000 — Heart Santiago
• ₱200,000 — Jay Kamote
• ₱180,000 — Salah Casim
• ₱150,000 — Ralph Josh Bacon
• ₱150,000 — Jose Diokno Jr.
• ₱140,000 — Pia Patios-Lim
• ₱130,000 — Beverly Claire Pampano
• ₱120,000 — Denise Tanya Escudero
• ₱100,000 — Xiaomi Ocho
• ₱50,000 — Miggy Mango
• ₱50,000 — Matthew N. Keso
• ₱50,000 — Kristine Applegate
• ₱50,000 — Anne Ongpauco
• ₱50,000 — Beth Revilla

“May kamote, may mangga, may keso,” private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said during her direct examination of Del Campo.

(There’s a root crop, a mango and cheese.)

No specific accomplishments

The OVP later submitted a certification and Protective Intelligence Operations Reports from Col. Raymund Lachica of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group as additional liquidation documents.

Del Campo, however, said the reports still did not make the OVP’s confidential fund disbursements compliant with Joint Circular 2015-01, which governs the use of confidential and intelligence funds.

“These Protective Intelligence Operations Reports, they attached it with [Lachica’s] certification as documents evidencing success. Based on my evaluation, it stated dates and locations of the engagements of the Vice President and their satellite offices, as well as probable threats, narratives of timeline of events from planning stage, actual operation, and post-operation,” Del Campo said.

“But during my evaluation [of] these documents, hindi ko po nakita 'yung particular accomplishments po para magawaran ng payment of rewards,” she added.

(But during my evaluation of these documents, I did not see any specific accomplishments that would warrant the payment of rewards.)

Del Campo is a prosecution witness for Article I of the impeachment case against Duterte.

The article accuses the Vice President of impeachable offenses stemming from the alleged systematic misappropriation and irregular liquidation of ₱500 million in confidential funds released to the OVP and ₱112.5 million released to the Department of Education during her tenure as Education secretary. — MCG, GMA News