Sara Duterte’s confidential fund spending raises new, more doubts

Vice President Sara Duterte composite image from Inquirer stock and House of Representatives of the Philippines photos. – Vice President Sara Duterte is facing a new round of questions about confidential fund expenditures with lawmakers noting a pattern of alleged mismanagement of her office’s secret appropriation.

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte is facing a new round of questions about confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) expenditures with lawmakers noting a pattern of alleged mismanagement of her office’s secret appropriation.

This developed as the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) utilization of its CIF in 2023.

In an interview on Wednesday, 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said that while it is unfortunate that Duterte and the rest of the OVP left the hearing before hard questions could be asked, they were still able to confirm with COA that there were other concerns about her office’s CIF.

“It’s unfortunate that we did not have the proper resource persons from the [OVP], however, we were still able to ask the proper questions with COA. Although this is just an initial hearing, it’s very telling because there is an indication, we had questions about the [CIF] during the budget hearings of OVP, but it seems that we have the same issues here,” Gutierrez said.

READ: Sara Duterte may be liable for graft – Dalipe

“Most telling, aside from the notice of disallowance […] it was confirmed earlier that we have issues with the second batch, ‘yong P500 million confidential funds.  So that’s something that we’re going to look into.  Apparently, after the P500 (million), if we recall the P125 (million) po doon, hindi natuloy for the last quarter.  So we have P375 million na meron ding audit observation memorandum,” he added.

Gutierrez was referring to the presentation of Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing showing that an audit observation memorandum (AOM) was issued against different parts of the OVP’s expenditures of its 2023 CIF.

According to Suansing’s presentation, the P500 million confidential fund was subdivided into P125 million per quarter — corroborating Gutierrez’s statements that P375 million was spent by the OVP as Duterte’s office decided to refrain from using the remaining P125 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, after the House in October 2023 decided to remove CIF allocations to OVP under the then-proposed 2024 budget.

Suansing noted that for the first quarter of 2023, P67 million of the P125 million confidential fund of the OVP was questioned in the AOM, as well as P62 million in the second quarter and P35 million in the third quarter.

All in all, the COA flagged around P164 million or 43.73 percent of the P375 million confidential fund allocation spent in 2023.

Suansing’s presentation also showed that the disbursements in question were different from the OVP’s P73.2 million confidential fund allocation in 2022 which the COA disallowed.

“Essentially we have summarized across the four quarters in terms of the disbursement of the confidential expenses of the [OVP], the different audit findings of the [COA] across the four different quarters,” Suansing said.

Gutierrez, meanwhile, said this latest issue indicates a “troubling lack of accountability and transparency in handling these funds.”

“This is public money, not a personal slush fund.  Repeated, templated reporting without detailed justification only raises suspicions of misuse,” said the 1-Rider party-list representative.

“When the same justifications are presented year after year for millions of pesos in taxpayer money, it raises serious questions about whether these funds are truly being used as intended or merely being spent without proper oversight […] This repeated pattern opens the door for further audit scrutiny,” he added.

READ: Quimbo to VP Sara: Defending your budget was most difficult thing I did

The House committee on good government and public accountability discussed the budget utilization of the OVP under Sara Duterte due to the privilege speech of Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano, who questioned the OVP’s spending plan presentation during deliberations for its proposed 2025 budget.

On September 3, Valeriano noted, among others, that the OVP’s aid programs were reportedly limited within Metro Manila.

He likewise pointed out that while the OVP stated in its 2025 budget proposal that its aid programs would benefit 977,615 people, it cannot be ascertained if these beneficiaries are real people and not ghost beneficiaries.

Duterte attended the House panel hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 18, but claimed that the new proceedings only aimed to discredit her name and the OVP.

“What we are witnessing now is no ordinary legislative inquiry. This exercise is a well-funded and coordinated political attack. This much is evident from the very words of the privilege speech that prompted this inquiry. A speech that simply meant to say, do not vote for Sara in 2028,” she said.

“It is clear to me that this inquiry is not about misused funds, accountability, or governance, instead, it is only aimed at discrediting my name and my office to prevent future political contests,” she added.

Duterte and the OVP were the subject of criticisms after House hearings revealed issues on how their confidential funds for 2022 and 2023 were used.

House Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe previously said that Duterte may be held liable for graft if she cannot explain how public funds were spent, particularly items with adverse findings from the COA.