COUNSEL for the House panel of prosecution Lorna Kapunan tagged as “scam” the use of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) under the leadership of Sara Duterte.
During the 12th day of the impeachment trial of Duterte, Kapunan ended her direct examination of former Commission on Audit-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO) auditor Roderick Wamil by pointing out a provision under the Joint Circular 2015-01 of the COA, Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Governance Commission For GOCCs, and Department of National Defense (DND) which states that failure to liquidate public funds “shall be prima facie evidence that he has put such missing funds or property to personal use and benefit.”
“Ang ibig sabihin po ng prima facie evidence under 8.3 ay nagkaroon po ng presumption na ginamit ‘yung funds for the personal use and benefits of the accountable officers,” said Wamil.
Kapunan’s “scam” remark prompted defense counsel Michael Poa to issue an objection to strike it off the record, and this was approved by presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
Since Monday, August 3, when Wamil stood as a prosecution witness on the trial, he repeatedly noted irregularities and discrepancies in the use, disbursement, and liquidation of the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd under Duterte.
At one point, he tagged it as “irregular expenditures,” saying it does not comply with the provisions of the joint circular.
He noted among others the submission only of acknowledgement receipts instead of official receipts or sales invoice, undated and misdated acknowledgement receipts, and the items where the confidential was used for such as tables and chairs, medicines, computers and printers and other supplies and various goods.
The non-submission of documentary evidence for the payments to the recipients of at least P129 million out of its P250-million confidential fund allocation for the first and second quarters of 2023 of the OVP, as well as for the P112.5 million in confidential funds of the DepEd in 2023 was also highlighted during the proceedings.
In his cross examination, Poa first confronted Wamil with a document dated October 2014, showing that the OVP has confidential and intelligence funds worth P6 million in the fiscal year 2014, under then Vice President
Jejomar Binay.
Wamil said on Monday that it was only Duterte who had confidential and intelligence fund appropriations since he assumed office in ICFAO in September 2014.
“I just wanted to put that on record dahil marami na rin pong lumalabas sa social media na si Vice President Sara Duterte lang ang vice president na nagkaroon ng confidential funds,” said Poa.
Poa also showed the court COA circular 92-985, which indicates why it is improper to disclose recipients in relation to confidential expenses.
“WHEREAS, as now being required, the submission of receipts, bills as commercial invoices in support of disbursements from these fund 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, endanger the lives and the safety of the agents and employees of the government agencies, and result to a failure of the mission,” the document read.
Kapunan manifested, however, that the Joint Circular 2015-01 supersedes COA circular 92-985.
Poa noted that in the repealing clause under joint circular 2015-01, it was stated that all circular memoranda, rules, regulation, and other issuance inconsistent herewith are deemed repealed and superseded.
“The document will speak for itself and we will leave it to the honorable court as to not prolong the debate in this matter,” he said.
Upon the questioning of Poa, Wamil also said there is no provision in the guidelines that confidential funds cannot be used in the span of 11 days.
“Tama ba ang pagkakaintindi ko na para sa cash advance at any one time maximum na pwede mo lang macash advance ay ang requirement mo lang para sa tatlong buwan ng confidential operations, at tatlong buwan is equivalent to one quarter of the year. Meron bang probisyon na magbabawal na gamitin ito in 60 days? In 11 days?” Poa inquired.
“Wala po kaya hindi naming sinama sa findings naming ‘yung 11 days na disbursement. It’s just a statement of facts po in the AOM (audit observation memorandum),” Wamil responded.
Wamil also responded in the affirmative when asked if the findings and observations of the ICFAO such as failure in liquidation and misappropriations is not conclusive as it is merely recommendatory.
He affirmed that the ICFAO has no authority to issue notice of disallowance, which is the role of the agency itself.
A Notice of Disallowance is a formal document issued by the Commission on Audit when its auditors determine that a government expenditure or use of public funds does not comply with laws, rules, or regulations. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)