VICE President Sara Duterte was the only vice president and Education secretary audited by the Commission on Audit (COA) for the use of confidential funds, as previous administrations had no such allocations, a state auditor said Monday.
During the 11th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial, prosecution counsel Lorna Kapunan asked COA auditor Roderick Wamil whether he knew if the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) had undergone a similar auditing process.
Wamil, who was part of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office from 2014 to 2024, said he did not conduct audits for Duterte’s predecessors, former vice presidents Jejomar Binay and Leni Robredo, as they had no appropriations for confidential funds.
“Since I assumed office in 2014, I only audited confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte,” Wamil told the Senate impeachment court.
“Because since I assumed office with the Icfao in 2014, there were no confidential fund appropriations under former vice presidents Binay and Robredo. Only Vice President Sara Duterte had an appropriation for confidential funds,” he added.
Wamil also said that at DepEd, only Duterte was audited for confidential fund use because former Education secretaries Armin Luistro and Leonor Briones did not have such allocations.
“Only Vice President Sara Duterte as the DepEd secretary... Because it was only in her tenure that DepEd received confidential funds,” he said.
Wamil also confirmed that the total amount of confidential funds allocated to the OVP under Duterte was P500 million, with an allocation of P125 million each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023.
For DepEd under Duterte, he said P112.5 million was allocated, with P37.5 million each quarter from the first quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of the same year.
Wamil also enumerated the OVP’s expenses using confidential funds, such as various goods as payment of reward amounting to more than P34 million, payment of reward in the form of medicines amounting to more than P24 million, as well as purchased supplies, tables, chairs, desktop computers and printers.
He said there were acknowledgment receipts pertaining to the purchase of tables and chairs, but there was no supporting proof of how these were related to official confidential activities.
“Since the transactions involved purchases, these should be supported by sales invoices and receipts, not just acknowledgment receipts,” Wamil said.
Asked if it is not confidential where medicines are purchased from, Wamil said no.
Wamil said confidential funds must be subjected to strict compliance with accounting and auditing rules because they involve public money and carry a risk of misuse.
He said the audit conducted by the Icfao was a “compliance post-audit,” which was conducted after disbursement and examines whether the spending was supported by the documents required under applicable laws, rules and regulations.
Wamil identified Joint Circular 2015-01 as the principal standard used by Icfao in examining confidential and intelligence funds.
The circular was jointly issued by COA, the departments of Budget and Management, Interior and Local Government, National Defense, and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations.
The circular states that “the confidential nature of the funds requires strong internal controls and strict accounting and auditing rules to prevent their mishandling or improper application.”
Section 4.8 limits confidential-fund spending to specified purposes. These include purchasing information relevant to national security and peace and order; renting vehicles for confidential activities; maintaining safe houses; obtaining supplies and equipment for confidential operations; and paying qualified rewards to non-employee informers under stated conditions.
He also cited the rule allowing rewards to informers only with the approval of the agency head, documentary evidence of successful information-gathering or surveillance, and a direct link to a specific confidential activity.
Section 4.11 prohibits the use of confidential funds for government salaries, wages, overtime, additional compensation, allowances and fringe benefits, except when authorized by law.
It also bars their use for representation, consultancy or entertainment expenses and for constructing or acquiring buildings or housing structures.
“It is not compliant with the joint circular because the first column lists programs, activities, and projects — yet the OVP did not indicate the specific confidential activities for which the confidential funds would be used,” Wamil said.
“Based on this submitted physical and financial plan, it appears that they did not note the specific confidential activities on which their disbursements would be based,” he added.
Wamil also pointed out that there was a discrepancy in the columns on expected outcomes and physical targets on the OVP document.
“Since the OVP did not indicate their specific confidential activities here, the expected outcomes and physical targets were not matched with the specific confidential activities based on the information presented in this document,” he said.
Wamil confirmed that the document, approved on Dec. 13, 2022, was signed by Duterte.
“‘Approved by’ means that the person who signed it approved the contents of the physical and financial plan based on that document,” he said.
Asked by Kapunan why he is familiar with the signature of Duterte, Wamil said, “Because among their submissions were their specimen signatures, and included there was the vice president’s specimen signature.”
“And the signature on the submitted specimen matches the signature on this physical and financial plan,” he added.
When it comes to an OVP’s certification dated January 2022, Wamil also said there was a discrepancy in the dates involving the funds.
He said he observed that the certification was issued in January 2022, but the OVP’s cash advance was for the fourth quarter of the year.
Wamil also said that the document was notarized in January 2023.
“Based on this document, yes ma’am, there is a discrepancy in the dates,” he said.
Presented by the House prosecution panel, Wamil is testifying on Article 1 of the Articles of Impeachment pertaining to the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds by Duterte — P500 million from the OVP, and P112.5 million from the DepEd.
