<\/p>\n
THE Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered Vice President Sara Duterte to return the \u20b173.28 million of the \u20b1125 million in confidential funds that her office spent in just 11 days in December 2022 on items deemed disallowed under government regulations.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The COA\u2019s Notice of Disallowance dated August 8, 2024, surfaced during a hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations as lawmakers deliberated on the proposed \u20b12.037 billion budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2025.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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 \u2014 expenses that appeared inconsistent with the intended use of confidential funds.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tensions rose during the hearing as Vice President Duterte repeatedly refused to answer lawmakers\u2019 questions about the rapid expenditure of the confidential funds. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Her consistent response to the questions was, \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Appropriations panel vice chair Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo, who presided over the hearing, emphasized that the interpellation is a critical component of legislative oversight.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMadam Vice President, we have 17 members listed for interpellation. And as you know, you\u2019ve been here many times for our budget briefing, that this is an important part of the budget briefing,\u201d Quimbo said.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe GAA, the General Appropriations Act, is arguably the most important piece of legislation of the year,\u201d she stressed.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro questioned the prudence of spending \u20b1125 million in just 11 days, especially given the OVP\u2019s generally low utilization rate for other budget allocations. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNakita naman natin doon sa presentation. So ang utilization ay napakababa. Pero siyempre comment ko lang, mas mabilis siya sa confidential funds, 100% in 11 days,\u201d Castro pointed out, pressing Duterte for an explanation of the disallowed purchases.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At one point, Duterte deflected by questioning the relevance of discussing previous budgets, particularly the 2022 budget that included the confidential funds.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNasaan ang topic natin dito, at ang pina-submit ninyo sa amin is the budget proposal of 2025, where in the budget proposal of 2025 is the item confidential funds?\u201d Duterte asked, questioning the validity of the inquiries.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Quimbo countered, insisting that Castro\u2019s questions were valid, especially given the ongoing concerns about how the confidential funds were used. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe Hon. France Castro has already provided a sufficient explanation as to why she asked the question, so please proceed with your answer,\u201d Quimbo said.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Castro highlighted that \u20b140 million of the confidential funds had been allocated for medical and food aid, questioning how such a large amount could have been spent so quickly.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSo, ang ibig sabihin ito, Madam chair, konting math, pumapatak na \u20b13.64 million kada araw ang gastos para sa food and medical aid. So hindi natin maintindihan paano ito ginastos in 11 days,\u201d Castro said.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Duterte\u2019s continued evasion led Castro to compare the Vice President\u2019s tactics to that of a squid releasing ink to avoid capture. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSorry for the pusit, na kapag nasusukol na ang pusit ay nag-aano ng maitim na tinta,\u201d Castro said. \u201cSo ayaw natin ng ganun, Madam chair, kasi \u2018yung atin namang pinag-uusapan dito ay budget. So \u2018wag naman mag-ugaling pusit ang Office of the Vice President,\u201d she added.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Castro also stressed that the COA\u2019s Notice of Disallowance made the spending of the funds illegal. \u201cIf disallowed, ilegal ang paggamit nito,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n COA Assistant Commissioner Alexander Juliano explained that a Notice of Disallowance signifies that an expenditure is deemed improper by the COA.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAng Notice of Disallowance po ang ibig sabihin, hindi pwede ang expenditure kasi it\u2019s either irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable,\u201d Juliano said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered Vice President Sara Duterte to return the ₱73.28 million of the ₱125 million in confidential funds that her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8189,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8187\/revisions\/8189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}