Senator-Judge Imee Marcos on Tuesday quizzed Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Roderick Wamil over his interpretation of the COA-Department of Budget and Management Joint Circular on accountability for confidential funds, while also questioning his earlier testimony that Vice President Sara Duterte was the only vice president audited for confidential funds.

During her interpellation, Marcos focused on the Joint Circular's provision on the "accountable officer," arguing that the presumption of misappropriation for failure to liquidate public funds should apply to the designated Special Disbursing Officer (SDO), who has custody of the funds, rather than the Vice President.

Marcos cited the circular's definition of an accountable officer and asserted that in the Office of the Vice President, the designated SDO—not the Vice President—was the payee and custodian of the confidential funds.

Wamil, however, disagreed with her interpretation.

He said the Joint Circular also assigns responsibilities to the head of the agency, including approving cash advances, overseeing the utilization of confidential funds, and ensuring compliance with the circular's provisions. He maintained that the term "accountable officer" is not limited to the SDO alone.

The exchange became tense after Marcos accused Wamil of giving inconsistent answers and urged him to respond with a simple "yes" or "no," while Wamil said he could not categorically answer because other provisions of the Joint Circular also applied.

"Ang liwanag sa definition ng Joint Circular. Mag-yes or no ka lang. Kanina ka pa. Inaaway mo ko lagi (It's very clear in the definition of the Joint Circular. Just answer yes or no. I've been asking you for a while now. You've been arguing with me the whole time)," Marcos said. 

Presiding Officer Senator-judge Francis "Chiz" Escudero, presiding over the trial, reminded Wamil to avoid arguing with the senator-judges.

Marcos also revisited Wamil's testimony from the previous day that Vice President Duterte was the first and only vice president whose confidential funds had been audited by COA.

She pointed to a 2014 Special Allotment Release Order (SARO), presented earlier by the defense, showing that then-Vice President Jejomar Binay had been allocated P6-million in confidential funds. Marcos asked how that could be reconciled with Wamil's earlier statement.

Wamil responded that while the SARO showed an allotment, COA's Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) only audits confidential funds after liquidation reports are submitted.

He said that based on COA's records, only Duterte's office submitted liquidation reports for confidential funds, which was why she was the only vice president audited by the office. Wamil added that COA could not determine whether Binay's confidential funds had been used because no liquidation report had been submitted.

Marcos questioned why COA would not know whether Binay had received confidential funds despite the existence of the SARO, ending the exchange by remarking that COA appeared to have many instances where it "didn't know."