Week 5 of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial is focused on Duterte's use of confidential funds. It can be recalled that Sara claimed she was being audited by the COA because she was being persecuted. However, Commission on Audit auditor Roderick Wamil says that is not the case at all. She was audited because hers is the only Vice President and DepEd Secretary to receive those funds.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2276131/coa-exec-only-dutertes-ovp-deped-audited-as-no-secret-funds-before |
Confidential fund (CF) audits were conducted only on Vice President Sara Duterte’s Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) because previous administrations had no such allocations, a state auditor said.
At the resumption of Duterte’s impeachment trial on Monday, prosecution counsel Lorna Kapunan asked Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Roderick Wamil whether he knew if previous OVP and DepEd administrations had undergone the same auditing process.
Wamil, who was part of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) from 2014 to 202, explained that he did not conduct CF audits for former Vice Presidents Jejomar Binay and Leni Robredo because they had no CF appropriations.
“Since I assumed office in 2014, I only audited confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte,” Wamil replied when asked by Kapunan.
“Why, Mr. Witness, why did you audit the confidential funds under Vice President Sara Duterte only?” Kapunan asked.
“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,” Wamil explained.
Similarly, at DepEd, only Duterte was audited for CF use because former Education Secretaries Armin Luistro and Leonor Briones did not have such allocations.
COA-ICFAO flagged the P375 million worth of CF expenditures for 2023 because unauthorized personnel disbursed the funds and used them improperly.
Wamil is the third witness presented by the prosecution for Article I. Last Wednesday, the prosecution presented two former Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) officials — department managers Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano — who testified about the OVP and DepEd’s withdrawals of CF allocations under Duterte.
Every single government office undergoes an audit. It's the law. COA auditor Roderick Wamil went on to explain what he found out during the audit. Namely, Sara did not follow the rules and properly allocate where the money went.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1280937 |
A Commission on Audit (COA) auditor told the Senate impeachment court Monday that confidentiality over an operation does not excuse the Office of the Vice President (OVP) from identifying ordinary suppliers or producing appropriate receipts for purchases charged against confidential funds.
In his testimony, former Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) state auditor Roderick Wamil said the OVP’s revised accomplishment report and subsequent responses still left unresolved deficiencies involving documentary evidence for payments, rewards and purchases.
“The use itself is confidential but the suppliers are not. These are different things,” Wamil said.
After receiving the OVP’s revised accomplishment report, he said the audit team considered the additional submission and issued a supplemental Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM).
He explained that the second AOM repeated the initial observation that the OVP had not submitted documents showing the actual payments covered by its report.
“They did not still submit documentary evidence of payments. So, we reiterated in our second AOM the non-submission of documentary evidence of payments,” he said.
Among the questioned items in the revised report were PHP40 million for medical and food aid and PHP10 million for incentives or traveling expenses allegedly related to OVP confidential operations.
Wamil said those items did not appear among the allowable confidential-fund expenditures enumerated in Item 4.8 of Joint Circular No. 2015-01.
"There are items for the provision of medical and food aid for PHP40 million and payment of incentives or traveling expenses relative to the confidential operations of the OVP for PHP10 million, that are not allowable expenses based on Item 4.8 of Joint Circular 2015-01,” he said.
“They have not submitted any document in support of the payment of rewards as of this time — as of the date ng AOM,” he added.
Wamil also cited the absence of a special budget request — proof that the revised accomplishment report had been submitted to the Office of the President, Senate President and House Speaker — and the approval of a disbursement voucher by Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio instead of the agency head.
He testified that the OVP subsequently submitted two responses containing documentary evidence of payments in the form of acknowledgment receipts, but found further deficiencies.
According to Wamil, the receipts reflected rewards paid in cash, medicines and various goods but lacked records establishing the successful intelligence activity resulting from an informer’s information.
“All their payment of rewards has no attached document supporting the success of the information-gathering activity or surveillance activity on account of the information given by the informer,” he said.
The submissions also covered medicines, various goods, supplies, tables, chairs, desks, printers and computers.
Wamil said the OVP supported the purchases only with acknowledgment receipts and did not indicate whether some equipment was intended for confidential operations.
“Since purchases are involved, then those purchases should have been supported with sales invoices and official receipts instead of just acknowledgment receipts,” he testified.
The defense moved to strike Wamil’s answers concerning whether the identities of drugstores, groceries and hardware stores were confidential, questioning his competence to give that opinion.
Presiding Officer Francis Escudero denied the motion, ruling that Wamil was competent to explain how he evaluated the OVP submissions under Joint Circular No. 2015-01.
Not only did Sara use her confidential funds for items not allowed for such as medicines, tables, and chairs, but the paperwork was not complaint with Joint Circular No. 2015-01.
"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, as required under Item 4.2 of the joint circular."
Funny that the defense attempted to toss out part of Wamil's testimony by questioning his competence. Of course dealing with the evidence would be hard because it is right there in black and white. The items listed do not apply under the rules.
According to the the COA the lack of receipts necessarily leads to the presumption that the funds were used for Sara's personal benefit.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2277611/coa-auditor-no-record-presumes-funds-went-to-vps-personal-use |
A Commission on Audit (COA) auditor testified on Tuesday that Vice President Sara Duterte is presumed under government auditing rules to have used confidential funds for her personal benefit after the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) failed to submit documents supporting the liquidation of millions of pesos in confidential funds.
Former COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office auditor Roderick Wamil, appearing for the second day before the Senate impeachment court, cited Paragraph 8.3 of Joint Circular No. 2015-01, which states that an accountable officer’s failure to liquidate public or confidential funds under his or her custody constitutes prima facie evidence that the missing funds were used for the officer’s personal benefit.
Now an audit team leader in Pasay City, Wamil also rejected the defense’s argument that the OVP was exempt from liquidation requirements because the confidential funds came from the Office of the President (OP).
Asked by prosecution counsel Lorna Kapunan whether Duterte, as Vice President and concurrent education secretary in 2023, was the accountable officer for the confidential funds of both the OVP and DepEd, Wamil answered yes.
He explained that the joint circular makes the head of an agency responsible for overseeing the use of confidential funds, ensuring compliance with liquidation and reporting requirements, and attesting to certifications executed by accountable officers that the funds were spent solely for authorized confidential expenses.
“Based on the joint circular, yes,” Wamil said when asked whether Duterte could be considered the accountable officer.
“What Paragraph 8.3 means is that there was a presumption that the funds were used for the personal use and benefit of the accountable officer,” he added.
The prosecution argued that the legal presumption arose not from bookkeeping lapses but from the complete absence of documents required under the government’s confidential fund rules.
All of the receipts under question date between December 20 - 31, 2022 which is a period of eleven days. It is the prosecutions stipulation that Sara liquidated 125 million pesos in confidential funds in 11 days. The defense says they disagree and that the matter will be settled by future witnesses.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2026/08/03/no-stipulation-vp-saras-camp-denies-spending-p125-m-confidential-fund-in-11-days |
The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, August 3, rejected the prosecution's assertion that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent its P125 million confidential fund within 11 days in December 2022, disputing a claim based on Commission on Audit (COA) records during the 11th day of the Senate impeachment trial.
Defense lawyer Michael Poa refused to stipulate to the prosecution's proposed admission that the OVP received the P125 million confidential fund on Dec. 20, 2022, and fully disbursed it within 11 days, as reflected in COA records.
"No stipulation on this matter," Poa told the Senate impeachment court.
The issue is being tackled under Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses Duterte of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as Education secretary.
In legal proceedings, a stipulation is a “formal agreement between opposing parties in a case to accept a fact, document, or issue as true or valid without requiring further proof.” By contrast, a "no stipulation" means one party refuses to admit or accept the proposed fact or evidence, requiring it to be proven at trial.
While rejecting the prosecution's proposed stipulation on the alleged 11-day utilization of the confidential fund, Poa acknowledged that the OVP was allocated P125 million in confidential funds in 2022.
He added, however, that the release of the amount had been approved by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., a point acknowledged by prosecution counsel Lorna Kapunan.
The prosecution sought to establish that the OVP received the confidential fund on Dec. 20, 2022, and liquidated it within 11 days, based on COA records.
The issue first drew public attention during the 2024 national budget deliberations in September 2023, when then-Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, who served as sponsor of the COA budget, disclosed that the OVP's liquidation report showed the confidential fund had been utilized within 11 days—not 19 days, as initially computed by members of the Makabayan bloc.
Quimbo said the liquidation report had been submitted by the OVP to the COA in January 2023.
The COA later issued a Notice of Disallowance covering P73 million of the P125 million confidential fund, citing alleged violations of the 2015 Joint Circular governing the allowable use of confidential funds.
Aside from disputing the prosecution's proposed stipulation on the confidential fund timeline, the defense also raised concerns over several acknowledgment receipts presented as evidence.
Poa told the impeachment court that the defense was willing to stipulate to most of the prosecution's documentary evidence but would exclude acknowledgment receipts covering Dec. 21 to 31, 2022.
"The defense is willing to stipulate on the list of documents provided except for the acknowledgment receipts for the period covering December 21 to 31, 2022," Poa said.
He added that there were issues involving those receipts that would be addressed by future witnesses but did not elaborate on the specific concerns.
Before raising the objection, Poa requested a brief suspension of the proceedings to coordinate with the prosecution regarding the documents both sides intended to stipulate.
"We have no problem stipulating, but due to the voluminous nature of the documents, we just want to make sure while ensuring the rights of our client," he said.
But these are the very receipts under question. What could future witnesses possibly add? Are there receipts related to those confidential funds which have not been seen and which extend beyond those eleven days? It would seem that the answer is no.
The defense has had years since the COA audit, and months before the impeachment trial began, to locate and produce any contemporaneous documentary evidence supporting the questioned confidential fund expenditures. If such receipts, invoices, or supporting records existed, one would ordinarily expect them to have been presented during the audit or disclosed in preparation for trial. The absence of such disclosures to date makes it increasingly unlikely that additional contemporaneous documentation exists, though the defense remains free to attempt to introduce admissible evidence during its presentation of the case.
Well, it turns out the defense has taken a totally different route saying that Sara did not need to submit receipts.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2277306/duterte-camp-cites-coa-circular-on-impractical-cf-receipts-submission |
Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense counsel invoked a 1992 Commission on Audit (COA) circular to justify the lack of receipts submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for its use of confidential funds (CF).
Defense counsel Michael Poa presented COA Circular No. 92-385 during his cross-examination of state auditor Roderick Wamil in Duterte’s impeachment trial on Tuesday.
Poa asked Wamil to read preliminary statements on the risks of leaking sensitive information.
Among its rationales, the circular stated: “The submission of receipts, bills or commercial invoices in support of disbursements from these funds for rental of safe houses, purchase of meals or supplies and other expenses, might create a leak of information that may threaten the confidentiality of the intelligence operations.”
“In many instances it is impractical and sometimes impossible to obtain such receipts, bills or commercial invoices during intelligence operations,” it added.
During the prosecution’s direct examination, Wamil repeatedly testified that the OVP failed to present supporting documents required to allow the disbursement of CFs for the payment of rewards.
Additionally, when private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan asked whether the OVP had documents to support its supposed plans for using CFs, Wamil said no submissions were made.
After Poa asked Wamil about the statements, Kapunan made a manifestation stating that the 1992 circular had been superseded by COA’s Joint Circular No. 2015-01 with the Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Governance Commission for GOCCs, and the Department of National Defense.
“This exhibit presented by counsel for the respondent is dated October 1, 1992, whereas the joint circular cited by this witness is dated 2015… 2015 supersedes this circular cited by the respondent, which is dated 1992,” Kapunan said, citing the repealing clause of the joint circular.
In a countermanifestation, Poa pointed out that the repealing clause in the 2015 document did not specify which documents it superseded.
Kapunan then countered, citing the clause that deemed repealed “all circulars, memoranda, rules, regulations and other issuances inconsistent” with the joint circular.
“No interpretation is needed… All are repealed and superseded accordingly,” Kapunan said.
To close the exchange, Poa said the documents shall “speak for themselves, and [they] will leave this to the honorable court.”
The 2015 joint circular has been the primary basis of Wamil’s testimony since Monday, Aug. 3, when he began discussing his assessment of Duterte’s CFs for the Office of the Vice President from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023, as well as the Department of Education’s CFs for the first three quarters of 2023.
Based on the 2015 circular, agencies that use CFs must submit, as post-audit requirements, a physical and financial plan, certification of the accountable officer, accomplishment report, liquidation report, and disbursement vouchers, among others.
If the court takes the defense's argument seriously then no prior "circulars, memoranda, rules, regulations and other issuances" were repealed because none are mentioned particularly by name. It is less a defense and more of a legal maneuvering. Good try though.
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