The Commission on Audit (COA) has issued a notice of disallowance (ND) over P73.2 million out of the P125 million confidential and intelligence funds for 2022 of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The COA directed Duterte and Special Disbursing Officer Gina F. Acosta and Chief Accountant Julieta L. Villadelrey of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) “to settle immediately the said disallowance.”
It reminded that “audit disallowances not appealed within six months shall become final and executory.”
ND No. 2024-002-100 dated Aug. 8, 2024 was signed by Nilda B. Plaras, assistant commissioner and officer-in-charge of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds.
From the amount of P73.2 million, P69.7 million was disallowed due to “non-submission of documents evidencing the success of information gathering and/or surveillance activities to support the Acknowledgment Receipts for payments of rewards in cash, various goods, and medicines,” the COA said.
It noted that P10 million was used as reward payment, P34.8 million for payment for various goods, and P24.9 million for medicines.
“The submitted list of 105 activities attended by the Vice President and those conducted by all the offices during the period Dec. 13 to 31, 2022 did not indicate the particular accomplishments for the successful information gathering and/or surveillance activities that are directly related to the specific confidential activities undertaken by the agency and which warrant the payments of rewards,” the COA said in its ND.
Also, it said, that P3.5 million was used as payment for tables, chairs, desktop computers, and printers without any specification that they would be intended for confidential activities undertaken by the OVP.
At the same time, the COA said “rewards” should have been recorded as “supplies” in the acknowledgment receipt, considering that the OVP submitted acknowledgment receipts reflecting payments for purchased supplies.
“In addition, there are no documents to further support their arguments that the expenses are not rewards,” it also said.
There was also non-submission of the Revised Accomplishment Report to the Office of the President, Senate President, and Speaker of the House, which is a requirement of Joint Circular No. 2015-01, it added.
It held Duterte liable for approving the transaction including the utilization of the cash advance, Acosta for acting as the payee and disbursing the cash advance, and Villadelrey for certifying that the supporting documents were complete and proper.