OVP to appeal P73 million disallowance of confidential expenses

MANILA, Philippines —The Office of the Vice President (OVP) is set to file an appeal on the Notice of Disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) ordering the return of P73.287 million out of the P125 million it spent as confidential expenses in 2022.

In an interview with Radyo Singko 92.3 News FM yesterday, OVP spokesperson Michael Poa said the notice is not yet considered final, thus making it premature to discuss the findings of the audit body.

“We are now preparing to appeal our so-called disallowance. It only shows that the OVP is really cooperating with the ongoing audit. To be honest, it’s a bit irregular that we are talking about a COA finding, which is not yet considered final,” Poa said.

It was only on Tuesday that the media first learned of the COA’s issuance of the notice of disallowance on the P73.287 million in confidential expenses incurred by the OVP in just 11 days or from Dec. 21 to 31, 2022.

The issuance of the notice was revealed by ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro during the hearing of the OVP’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 at the House of Representatives appropriations committee.

Vice President Sara Duterte, during the hearing, refused to answer questions pertaining to her office’s confidential expenses in 2022.

COA assistant commissioner Alexander Juliano, however, explained to lawmakers that a notice of disallowance is usually issued if state auditors found the expenditure or fund disbursement to be “either irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or unconscionable.”

A copy of the notice, dated Aug. 8, showed that among those COA disallowed in connection with the OVP’s confidential expenses in 2022 were the payments of rewards totaling P69.787 million, of which P10 million was in the form of cash, P34.857 million in the form of various goods and P24.93 million in the form of medicines.

The COA said the OVP failed to submit any document “evidencing the success of information gathering and/or surveillance activities” to support the payment of the rewards.

It noted that while the OVP submitted a list of 105 activities supposedly attended by the Vice President or conducted by various offices under the OVP, it did not indicate the particular accomplishments on information gathering or surveillance undertakings related to the confidential activities of the agency.

Another item that COA disallowed was the payment of P3.5 million for tables, chairs and desktop computers. The audit body said the amount was charged by the OVP to its confidential fund “without specifying that they were intended for the confidential operations/activities undertaken by the OVP.”
Under government auditing rules, an issuance of a notice of disallowance by the COA legally compels the concerned government officials to return the disallowed amount.

In its notice, the COA specifically identified Duterte, OVP special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta and chief accountant Julieta Villadelry as the ones liable for the disallowed confidential expenses.

The COA said Duterte was the one who “approved the transaction including the utilization of the cash advance” drawn from the OVP’s confidential fund, while Acosta acted as the payee/SDO and disbursed the cash advance.

“Please direct the aforementioned persons liable to settle immediately the said disallowance. Audit disallowances not appealed within six months from receipt thereof shall become final and executory as prescribed under Sections 48 and 51 of Presidential Decree 1445 (Government Auditing Code),” the notice read..–  Mayen Jaymalin