Pro-impeachment congressmen have made a big deal about the Commission on Audit’s (COA) apparent order for Office of the Vice President (OVP) officials to return disallowed confidential funds amounting to nearly ₱73.3 million.

But what if Vice President Sara Duterte and the others involved returned all of that money to COA?

House Committee on Justice member, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said such act won't get the impeachment respondent off the hook.

“Kahit maibalik pa ang ₱73 million sa kaban ng bayan, hindi nito pinapawalang-bisa ang Ombudsman proceedings at hindi rin nito naaapektuhan ang impeachment proceedings,” he said.

(Even if the ₱73 million is returned to the national treasury, this neither nullify the Ombudsman proceedings nor does it affect the impeachment proceedings.)

“Hindi natin puwedeng pagbanggain ang proceedings sa [COA], Office of the Ombudsman, at House of Representatives dahil magkaiba ang consequences ng bawat isa, kahit pare-pareho ang facts at defenses na pinagbabatayan nila,” explained the lawyer-solon.

(We cannot pit the proceedings of the [COA], the Office of the Ombudsman, and the House of Representatives against each other because each carries different consequences, even if they are based on the same facts and defenses.)

“Malinaw na tutuloy ang mga ito nang magkakahiwalay at pagpapasyahan din nang magkakahiwalay (It is clear that these will proceed separately and will also be decided separately)," he said regarding the Vice President’s run-ins with these institutions.

During the April 14 impeachment hearing of the justice committee, COA Auditor Gloria Camora, team leader of the COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office that audited the OVP, shared that it denied the appeal of the OVP and affirmed the disallowance of the P73.28 million worth of confidential funds spent in December 2022.

With this, COA says it is seeking the return of the public funds from the OVP, thus putting even more pressure on the already beleaguered Duterte.

Among the allegations being hurled at the Vice President is the alleged misuse of ₱612.5 million worth of confidential funds. The disallowed ₱73.28 million is part of this nine-figure amount.

Ridon emphasized that the COA Commission Proper has already found that the OVP failed to justify the ₱73 million in confidential expenses, citing the lack of sufficient documentary evidence to establish the nature and success of the alleged intelligence activities, as well as the necessity of the expenditures.

“Magpapatuloy ang impeachment proceedings laban sa Pangalawang Pangulo, anuman ang mangyari sa usapin ng restitution (The impeachment proceedings against the Vice President will continue regardless of what happens in the matter of restitution)," noted the party-list legislator.

"Ang usapin ng misuse of confidential funds ay maaaring magbigay-daan sa finding ng betrayal of public trust, na isang impeachable offense (The issue of misuse of confidential funds may lead to a finding of betrayal of public trust, which is an impeachable offense)," he said.