There's nothing political about the Commission on Audit’s (COA) decision to uphold its disallowance of P73 million worth confidential funds that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent in December 2022, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.

“If this [was] political, it would have been rushed. Instead, it took three years. That is not harassment—that is due process,” Ridon said in a statement over the weekend.

COA's ruling was highlighted Tuesday, April 14 during the House Committee on Justice's continuation of its hearings on the determination of probable cause on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case.

COA Auditor Gloria Camora, team leader of the COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office that audited the OVP, disclosed to the justice panel that it denied the appeal of the OVP and affirmed the disallowance of the P73.28 million in question.

Camora also confirmed that COA was asking the OVP officials to return the money. As expected, the congressmen who were in support of the impeachment proceedings used this as a further reason to indict the impeachment respondent, Duterte.

Fair game, as far as Ridon is concerned.

“This did not happen overnight. These findings are the result of a three-year audit process conducted by the [COA], a constitutional body mandated to examine the use of public funds. Hindi ito minadali. Dumaan ito sa audit, sa paliwanag ng ahensya, sa review, at sa proseso ng apela. Lahat ng panig ay nabigyan ng pagkakataong sumagot,” he noted.

(This was not rushed. It went through audit, the agency’s explanation, review, and the appeals process. All sides were given the opportunity to respond.)

Ridon, a lawyer, explained that the issuance of notices of disallowance by COA was grounded on documented findings and subject to multiple layers of verification.

“A notice of disallowance is issued only after evaluation. It is not speculation—it is based on records. And when such findings persist after due process, they raise serious questions that cannot be ignored,” he said.

The party-list legislator--like his fellow justice panel members--emphasized that the impeachment process was not meant to determine guilt. Rather, it's a constitutional mechanism to determine whether or not sufficient grounds exist for a Senate impeachment trial against the respondent.

“This is about probable cause, not conviction. The purpose is to allow the evidence—including COA findings—to be examined in the proper forum,” Ridon said.

Duterte is being accused of misusing a total of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds.