MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent a total of P16 million in confidential funds on the rental and maintenance of safehouses over 11 days in December 2022, the Commission on Audit (COA) confirmed on Thursday, October 17.
During the House good governance committee's investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds, COA revealed the P16 million was based on 34 acknowledgment receipts submitted for the period from December 21 to Dec. 31, 2022.
The P16 million is part of the P125 million in confidential funds disbursed in just 11 days.
Asked how many safehouses the OVP rented, Gloria Camora, COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Officer (ICFAO), explained that each acknowledgment receipt likely corresponds to one safe house.
“We have no information on how many safehouses that 500,000 was spent on. … It just means 34 people were paid for the rental of safehouse. ... There’s information that one receipt could pertain to one safehouse,” she said.
Lawmakers pressed Camora for a definitive answer, to which she confirmed the assumption of 34 safehouses was correct. This indicates the OVP rented a total of 34 safehouses, amounting to P16 million in 2022.
"So if I ask you, 'yung receipt amounting to P500,000 for the payment of rental of a safehouse, would it be logical for me to conclude that this is for one safehouse for 11 days?" Rep. Romeo Acop (Antipolo, 2nd District) asked.
"Yes, Mr. Chair," Camora answered.
"Kanina sinabi po ninyo sa 34 na 'to, 34 po 'yung safehouse. Ibig sabihin isang resibo represents one safehouse. Tama po?" Rep. Joel Chua (Manila, 3rd District) clarified, which the state auditor confirmed again.
Camora estimated that around P1.45 million on average was spent for one safehouse over 11 days.
How much was spent each day. Chua, who chairs the House committee, presented a table detailing the amounts and dates of each acknowledgment receipt.
The lowest rental and maintenance expense made according to the acknowledgment receipts in a day for one safehouse was P250,000, while the highest was P1 million, Camora confirmed to Chua.
Chua also highlighted how P8.75 million or more than half of the P16 million were spent in three consecutive days, from December 27 to 29, 2022.
No means to verify payments. The large amount was not the only concern of lawmakers as they also noticed that the person who received the confidential funds was not clearly indicated in the acknowledgment receipts.
Some receipts were unsigned, others were signed only by the payment recipient without leaving a name, and many had illegible names.
This lack of clear identification, lawmakers pointed out, means that COA has no way to verify the recipients of the confidential funds, as the names on the receipts are unclear.
Limitations. Camora agreed and said that it is the limitation state auditors face of having to deal with confidential funds, on top of the lack of manpower.
“It is really 'yung intel and confidential funds [where] there is no verification. Even if we have means right now, manpower ng ICFAO can’t handle alone itong si OVP,” she said.
We cannot verify all those people and we audit all confidential and intelligence funds for the whole country,” she added.
The state auditor also mentioned that COA has no idea of where the safehouses are or a copy of their contract leases.
All they know, according to the accomplishment report, is that the safehouses are used for the “Safe Implementation of OVP Initiatives and Confidence Building.”
The same amount of P16 million was disbursed for safehouse rentals from February to March 2023 and April to June 2023, which means P32 million were spent in the first half of 2023. The amount spent on confidential funds for safehouses decreased to P5 million in the third quarter.
In total, the OVP’s rental and maintenance expenditures amounted to P53 million from December 2022 to September 2023.
Due to the struggles COA is experiencing in verifying the OVP’s spending on confidential funds, lawmakers are looking to propose a new law that would allow state auditors to require and check the necessary documentation.
“The joint circular needs improvement in terms of evidence of payments and to allow COA to check safehouses [and] other agreements to ensure validity of the payments,” Rep. Aurelio Gonzales (Pampanga, 3rd District) said.
Gonzales is referring to the Joint Circular 2015-01, which serves as the guidelines on how confidential funds should be used, reported and audited. He added that it is already nine years old and will need updates given the findings they learned from the House inquiry.
Why were OVP officials absent again?
OVP officials were absent again at the House probe into the spending of the agency’s confidential funds. This pushed lawmakers to issue a subpoena ad testificandum for the six officials, compelling them to attend the next public hearing.
These include the OVP’s Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, Bids and Awards Chairperson Lemuel Ortonio, Administrative and Financial Services Director Rosalynne Sanchez, Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey, and former Special Disbursing Officer of the Department of Education (DepEd) Edward Fajardo who is now with the OVP.
The OVP officials submitted a position paper, saying that the inquiry is unnecessary because the budget utilization has already been discussed during budget hearings with the appropriations committee.
They added their participation may influence COA’s auditing processes and how the good governance committee lacks a legislative outcome.
However, House lawmakers said they would issue an arrest order should they not attend the next hearings.
The good governance committee is also investigating the confidential and intelligence funds spent by DepEd under Vice President Sara Duterte, its former secretary.