Yearender: COA exposes Dutertes’ predilection for confidential funds

MANILA, Philippines —  In the middle part of 2023, Filipinos were shocked and furious upon hearing reports that Vice President Sara Duterte spent P125 million in confidential funds (CF) in just 11 days.

The amount translates to around P11 million spent per day, as confirmed by the Commission on Audit (COA) during a plenary debate at the House of Representatives.

Duterte corrected the information, saying  the money was spent in 19 days or from Dec. 13 to 31, 2022.

Whether 11 or 19 days, the news was just as controversial as Congress did not allocate any CF to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2022, as well as in prior years during the term of former vice president Leni Robredo.

The OVP’s P125 million in CF expenses was first revealed in the COA’s 2022 annual audit report (AAR) on the agency, which media outfits, including The STAR, reported in July.

The COA report did not mention where the OVP’s confidential funds were sourced. It was only revealed during a House hearing that the P125-million fund came from the Office of the President (OP).

In a letter on Aug. 22, 2022, Sara asked the Department of Budget and Management for a P403.46-million budget augmentation, supposedly to “ensure continuous operations of the OVP under the current year.”

At least three petitions are pending before the Supreme Court questioning the legality of the fund transfer from the OP to the OVP.

Petitioners prayed that the high tribunal would order Sara to return the P125 million to the treasury.

Congress stripped the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), which is also headed by Sara, of any CF for 2024.

It realigned the combined P650-million proposed CF of the OVP and DepEd to agencies involved in security and intelligence work.

A review of the COA’s previous annual audit reports (AARs) showed that Sara has been a major spender of confidential funds, even during her term as mayor of Davao City.

The COA’s AARs from 2016 to 2022 showed that the city government of Davao incurred confidential expenses amounting to hundreds of million of pesos from the time Sara succeeded her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, as Davao mayor after the May 9, 2016 elections.

The AARs