MANILA, Philippines — ACT Teachers party-list France Castro maintained that the misuse of taxpayer’s money — particularly confidential funds (CFs) — is an impeachable offense.
Castro said this on Friday regarding the possibility that Vice President Sara Duterte may be held liable for the Commission on Audit (COA) notice of disallowance (ND) issued on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) CF for 2022, where P73 million of the P125 million was being disallowed.
“’Di naman pwedeng gagawa ng kalokohan tapos pababayaan na lang, dapat may accountability. Her misuse of confidential funds is an impeachable offense,” Castro said.
(You cannot just act irresponsibly and we would let it slide; there should be accountability. Her misuse of confidential funds is an impeachable offense.)
“Sa paglulustay ng confidential funds, sa panahong kulang na kulang ang pondo para sa serbisyong publiko, at sa pagtangging ipaliwanag ito sa taumbayan, malinaw na may batayan ang impeachment,” she added.
(With the use of confidential funds, in a time where funds for public services are short, and with her refusal to explain these fund utilization to the public, there is a basis for impeachment.)
This is not the first time that Castro raised the possibility of Duterte being impeached. In August 2023, Castro said Duterte violated laws when funds were realigned for CFs in 2022.
READ: Lawmaker threatens VP Sara with impeach rap; Veep responds, ‘Enjoy’
Duterte was criticized by several House of Representatives lawmakers later that year when the chamber was deliberating the OVP’s budget for 2024 after it was revealed that a CF provision was inserted in the 2022 budget despite the original — which was crafted during the time of former Vice President Leni Robredo — having no secret fund allocation.
READ: Party-list solon to COA: Probe VP Sara’s P125-M confidential funds in 2022
Aside from that, it was also revealed that the OVP spent the funds in 11 days only, or from December 21 to 31, 2022.
READ: Quimbo: OVP’s P125M secret fund in 2022 spent in just 11 days
This CF allocation, plus the COA’s ND against it, was the main topic of the deliberations on the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget last Tuesday where Duterte refrained from directly answering lawmakers’ questions.
The lawmaker said an ND is already damning enough, despite lawmakers supportive of Duterte believing otherwise.
“Let me just emphasize the absurdity of what the vice president claims in her accomplishment report. She spent P125 million by holding 132 surveillance activities, where she gave out a total of P99 million in payment and rewards (in cash and in kind), presumably to informers, and spent P26 million for travel expenses and safe houses. All during the last 11 days of 2022, including the Christmas and yearend holidays. This story simply does not hold up,” Castro said.
Castro said the following items in the P125 million CF were disallowed by COA:
- Reward Payment – P10 million
- Payment of Reward (Various Goods) – P34.85 million
- Payment of Reward (Medicines) – P24.93 million
- Payment for tables, chairs, desktop computers, and printers – P3.5 million
The following, meanwhile, were not the subject of the ND:
- Purchase of Information – P14 million
- Payment of Reward – P10 million
- Rental of Other Incidental Expenses relative to the Maintenance of safe Houses – P16 million
- Provision of Medical and Food Aid – P35 million
- Payment of Incentives or Travelling relative to the Confidential Information – P10 million
According to Castro, the disallowed CF came in the form of rewards (cash, goods, and medicines) because the OVP supposedly failed “to show proof of the success of the surveillance operations that would merit such payment.”
Also, the lawmaker said procurement of furniture and office equipment was disallowed because it was not established that the items were purchased for surveillance operations.
With these, Castro said it seems Duterte refused to answer queries because it would reveal issues surrounding the vice president’s budget.
“It’s becoming apparent that Duterte was banking on the supposed veil of secrecy around confidential funds to hide her unlawful use of people’s money. This is a clear betrayal of public trust,” Castro said. “We in the Makabayan bloc stand by our call that confidential funds should be abolished because these secret discretionary funds are really prone to corruption.”
“Her stonewalling on legitimate questions from members of the House regarding her use of public funds showed utter disrespect for the basic principles of check-and-balance, transparency, and accountability of public officials entrusted with the people’s money, all of which are enshrined in the Constitution that she swore to uphold,” she added.
Due to Duterte’s evasive answers to lawmakers’ questions, deliberations on the OVP’s proposed budget were deferred, with another hearing set for September 10.