Metro Manila, Philippines – Documents from the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) supporting its spending of ₱125 million in confidential funds (CF) had discrepancies and did not comply with regulations, an official of the Commission on Audit (COA) told the Impeachment Court.
On Monday, August 3, the prosecution summoned state auditor Roderick Wamil – assigned at the Intelligence and Confidential Fund Audit Office (ICFAO) from 2014 to 2024 – to testify on Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged misuse of ₱500 million in CF.
In the prosecution’s presentation of evidence, it tackled the OVP spending of ₱125 million in CF in 11 days, or from Dec. 21 to 31, 2022.
Though the cash advance was disbursed for the fourth quarter of 2022, Wamil pointed out that OVP certification for the CFs was dated Jan. 10, 2022. The same certification – which was signed by Duterte – was notarized on Jan. 16, 2023.
The auditor testified that Duterte failed to specify the activities from the CF, a requirement under Section 4.2 of Joint Circular 2015-01
Joint Circular 2015-01 establishes the guidelines for the release, use, and reporting of confidential and intelligence funds. Section 4.2 requires that all CF allocations must be supported by a physical and financial plan which indicates the proposed amount for each activity.
As a result, Wamil said he filed an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM), which is a written notification to the accountable officers, informing them of the deficiencies and asking for an explanation and to submit the missing documents.
He said the ICFAO tried to serve the AOM to the OVP in the second week of September 2023.
“Hindi po siya tinanggap dahil ang sabi sa ICFAO ay walang [They did not receive it and said there was no] authorized person to receive the AOM,” he said.
Wamil shared that on the afternoon of the same day that the ICFAO tried to serve the AOM, the OVP sent a revised accomplishment report.
This revised accomplishment report, said Wamil, had some line items which were not considered allowable expenses under Section 4.8 of the circular. These were the:
+provision of Medical and Food Aid of ₱40 million, and;
+payment of Incentives or Traveling relative to the Confidential Operations of ₱10 million.
He also flagged the “Payment of Reward” line item of ₱10 million because the OVP did not submit documents to back the success of information gathering operations.
Discrepancies for Mary Grace Piattos, others
The OVP issued acknowledgement receipts to people who received CF in the 11 days. Wamil said based on his personal tabulation, which the prosecution referred to, the total expense was ₱125,150,000. The ₱150,000 discrepancy was not reflected in the accomplishment report.
Some of the names in the receipts were:
+Mary Grace Piattos, who received ₱70,000 for Payment of Reward (medicines) on Dec. 30, 2022;
+Renan Piattos, who received ₱110,000 for the Purchase of Information on Dec. 27, 2023;
+Janice Marie Revilla, who received ₱70,000 for the Purchase of Information on Dec. 28, 2022;
+Andy C. Lim, who received ₱50,000 for the Purchase of Information on Dec. 27, 2023.
READ THE FULL LIST: Mary Grace Piattos, Renan Piattos, Andi Lim in OVP confidential fund receipts
Wamil said the receipts did not have supporting documents, and noted the discrepancies in the receipts for Renan Piattos and Andy C. Lim, which was dated Dec. 27, 2023, a year after the 11-day disbursement period of the ₱125-million CF.
Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan jokingly asked Wamil if Janice Marie Revilla was a relative of former Senator Bong Revilla. She also made light of the name “Andy Lim,” which sounds like “ang dilim [it’s dark],” in Tagalog.
Defense spokesperson Michael Poa objected to Kapunan’s statement for “coloring” the contents of the documents more than what is shown.
In a post-trial press briefing, Poa said while his panel did stipulate – meaning to accept the evidence as true without needing to argue against it – on many other documents the prosecution offered as evidence, they did not want to stipulate on the acknowledgment receipts.
“Loose po kasi ‘yan [They’re loose], they’re separate sheets so we cannot stipulate based on around 3,000, 4,000 documents. We really have to protect the rights of our client,” Poa said.
“Wala kaming sinasabing baka may pineke [We’re not saying these were faked] or something, I just want to make that clear. Ang sinasabi natin is hindi natin alam so ayaw natin na mag-stipulate sa ganoon karaming dokyumento lalong-lalo na since yung nature nga niya ay acknowledgement receipts,” he added.
[Translation: What we’re saying is we don’t know so we don’t want to stipulate to this many documents especially since they are acknowledgement receipts.]
