Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged Vice President Sara Duterte's usage of ₱73.28 million out of the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) ₱125 million confidential funds, which the office repeatedly spent in just 11 days in December 2022. 

This, after a COA Notice of Disallowance dated Aug.8, 2024 surfaced during the budget hearing of the OVP on Tuesday, Aug. 27 before the House Committee on Appropriations. 

The disallowed expenditures, amounting to nearly two-thirds of the total confidential funds, included payments for rewards in the form of goods rather than cash, and the procurement of tables, chairs, desktop computers, and printers—expenses that appeared inconsistent with the intended use of confidential funds. 

The disallowance notice entails the return of the funds in question after the flagged office has submitted to COA the explanation on why the expense was made. 

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, an assistant minority leader, primarily used the COA document in her grilling of the Vice President. 

Castro highlighted that ₱40 million of the OVP confidential funds had been allocated for medical and food aid. She questioned how such a large amount could be spent so quickly. 

"So ang ibig sabihin ito, Madam Chair, konting math, pumapatak na ₱3.64 million kada araw ang gastos para sa food and medical aid. So hindi natin maintindihan paano ito ginastos in 11 days," Castro said. 

(So that means, Madam Chair, using a little math, the average is P3.64 million spending per day on food and medical aid. So I don't understand how this was spent in 11 days.) 

Vice President Duterte's consistent response to the questions was, “I will forego the opportunity to defend the OVP 2025 budget proposal in question and answer, and I will leave it to the House to decide on the proposal.”