OVP spent P237 million in seven months – COA report

MANILA, Philippines — State auditors have unearthed a questionable disbursement of P237 million within just seven months by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

In 2023, the Commission on Audit (COA) confirmed that Vice President Sara Duterte’s office spent the controversial P125 million in confidential funds in 2022 in just 11 days.

Duterte’s alleged misuse of public funds has prompted activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) to push for her impeachment. The group is set to hold a protest rally today outside the House of Representatives as lawmakers deliberate on the proposed P2.037-billion budget of the OVP in 2025.

The House appropriations committee earlier slashed the OVP’s proposed budget to P733.2 million – a P1.29-billion cut.

In a recent presentation, an accomplishment report was shown for the “utilization of the confidential and intelligence funds” of the OVP, wherein questionable disbursements that started in December 2022 were discovered, referring to the P125-million CIF spent in 11 days.

Of this amount, P73.2 million was “disallowed” by the COA, followed by P67-million disbursements from Feb. 6 to March 29, 2023; P62 million from April 25 to June 30, 2023, and P35 million from July 14 to Sept. 30, 2023.

“The P73 million disallowed by the COA is just the beginning of a broader pattern of seeming misuse or mismanagement of government funds, as an additional P164 million has been flagged in audit observation memorandums (AOMs),” Zambales 1st District Rep. Jay Khonghun said.

“We are seeing a disturbing pattern of misuse or mismanagement of government funds. VP Duterte needs to explain this to the public – she owes the Filipino people transparency and accountability,” he said.

In total, the OVP used up its P500 million in CIF, with COA flagging nearly half, or over P237 million, of it as questionable, Khonghun said.

He urged Duterte to stop being evasive and explain her use of CIF.

“The COA’s findings suggest serious issues in how the OVP is handling its CIF. The Vice President cannot ignore this. She needs to explain,” Khonghun said.

Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing earlier summarized the COA findings during the committee deliberations on the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget.

Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez raised the same concerns during the hearing.

“There seems to be a pattern. Based on the COA report, the same offenses that led to the notice of disallowance are present in the AOMs. We need to seriously consider if there is a pattern of misuse, misfeasance or even malfeasance in this case,” Gutierrez said. — Emmanuel Tupas