COA auditor: Sara only VP, education secretary with confidential funds
MANILA – A Commission on Audit (COA) auditor testified Monday that Vice President Sara Duterte was the only Vice President and the only Department of Education (DepEd) secretary who had confidential funds, which he audited during his assignment with the commission’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO).
Testifying before the Senate impeachment court, state auditor Roderick Wamil, now an audit team leader at the COA Pasay office, told senator-judges that he served at the ICFAO from September 2014 to February 2024.
During this period, he said, three vice presidents served — former vice presidents Jejomar Binay and Leni Robredo and incumbent Duterte.
READ: Impeachment trial shifts to VP’s spending
However, only Duterte’s Office of the Vice President (OVP) received confidential fund appropriations.
“Tanging si Vice President Sara Duterte lang po ‘yung aking na-audit na may confidential fund (It was only Vice President Duterte who has confidential funds, which I audited),” Wamil said during direct examination by private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan.
Wamil explained that neither Binay nor Robredo received confidential fund appropriations while he was assigned to the ICFAO.
“Tanging si Vice President Sara Duterte lang po yung nagkaroon ng (Only Vice President Duterte had) appropriation for the confidential funds,” he added.
Unique DepEd chief
Wamil likewise testified that Duterte was the only DepEd secretary whose confidential funds he audited.
“Dahil siya lang po ‘yung naging DepEd Secretary na nagkaroon ng confidential funds ang DepEd (Because it was only in her tenure that DepEd received confidential funds),” he said.
He identified former education secretaries Armin Luistro and Leonor Briones as the other agency heads who served during his assignment with the ICFAO.
Wamil testified that he audited PHP500 million in confidential funds released to the OVP from the fourth quarter of 2022 through the third quarter of 2023.
He also audited PHP112.5 million in confidential funds released to the DepEd during the first three quarters of 2023.
‘Confidential funds require strict compliance’
Meanwhile, Wamil said confidential funds must be subjected to strict compliance with accounting and auditing rules because they involve public money and carry a risk of misuse.
“We follow strict compliance since what is involved ay public funds, so dapat strict ’yung accounting and auditing rules to prevent ’yung (accounting and auditing rules must be strictly observed to prevent the) misuse of funds,” Wamil said.
He explained that the audit conducted by the COA ICFAO is “compliance post-audit,” which is conducted after disbursement and examines whether the spending is supported by the documents required under applicable laws, rules and regulations.
Wamil identified Joint Circular No. 2015-01 as the principal standard used by ICFAO in examining confidential and intelligence funds.
The circular was jointly issued by COA, the departments of Budget and Management, Interior and Local Government, National Defense and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations.
The circular states that “the confidential nature of the funds requires strong internal controls and strict accounting and auditing rules to prevent their mishandling or improper application.”
Limited purposes
Section 4.8 limits confidential-fund spending to specified purposes. These include
- purchasing information relevant to national security and peace and order;
- renting vehicles for confidential activities; maintaining safe houses; obtaining supplies and equipment for confidential operations; and
- paying qualified rewards to non-employee informers under stated conditions.
He also cited the rule allowing rewards to informers only with the approval of the agency head, documentary evidence of successful information-gathering or surveillance, and a direct link to a specific confidential activity.
Section 4.11 prohibits the use of confidential funds for government salaries, wages, overtime, additional compensation, allowances and fringe benefits, except when authorized by law.
It also bars their use for representation, consultancy or entertainment expenses and for constructing or acquiring buildings or housing structures.
The prosecution presented Wamil to identify and authenticate audit records covering PHP500 million in OVP confidential funds from the fourth quarter of 2022 through the third quarter of 2023; and PHP112.5 million in DepEd confidential funds during the first three quarters of 2023.
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