OVP showed no results for P131.8M in secret fund rewards – COA auditor

MANILA, Philippines — The P131.787 million in confidential fund rewards released by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) from December 2022 to September 2023 had no supporting documents to show specific results to justify the payments.

Xylene Mae del Campo of the Commission on Audit (Coa) gave that testimony to House private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan on Monday, the 14th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

COA-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office supervising auditor Xylene Mae del Campo told the Senate impeachment court that the amount consisted of P69.787 million in reward payments from the OVP’s P125-million confidential fund in December 2022 and another P62 million during the first three quarters of 2023.

Del Campo, the supervising auditor of Coa”s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office, told the impeachment court that the amount consisted of P69.787 million in reward payments from the OVP’s P125-million confidential fund in December 2022 and another P62 million during the first three quarters of 2023.

“The particular accomplishments were not seen to warrant the payment of rewards,” Del Campo said in Filipino.

READ: Prosecution, defense clash over Sara Duterte fund documents

Citing Joint Circular No. 2015-01, which governs confidential and intelligence funds, a House prosecution statement pointed out the head of the agency must approve the reward payments and should provide documents showing successful information-gathering or surveillance activities resulting from information provided by an informant, which should be directly related to the agency’s confidential activities.

Only dates and locations

Kapunan questioned Del Campo on the documents the OVP submitted to satisfy the requirement on evidence of success.

For its 2023 confidential fund spending, the OVP submitted certifications and Protective Intelligence Operations Reports (PIORs) detailing Duterte’s engagements and activities of OVP satellite offices, according to the House statement.

Del Campo testified that the reports contained dates and locations, probable threats, and narratives covering the planning, actual operation, and post-operation stages.

But she said the documents did not specify the particular successful result that would warrant the payment of rewards but only stated that no untoward incidents happened during OVP engagements and implementation of programs.

Could the information on the results of such operations itself be considered confidential and therefore need not be disclosed, Kapunan asked.

Del Campo said Coa still needed the information to establish the payments as legitimate.

“At Coa, we ask for that to prove that there was really a payment of rewards,” she said.

Proof needed even in confidential funds

The confidential nature of the operations, she stressed, did not remove the requirement to show results to state auditors.

According to her, failure to comply with that requirement contributed to Coa’s disallowance of P448.287 million of the P500 million in confidential funds released by the OVP from December 2022 to September 2023.

The first notice of disallowance covered P73.287 million from the OVP’s December 2022 confidential fund, including the P69.787 million in reward payments.

Coa affirmed the disallowance on April 10, 2026, and the OVP’s motion for reconsideration remains pending.

READ: Sara Duterte’s secret funds given on same dates, at various sites

On March 31, 2026, Coa issued a notice of disallowance covering the entire P375 million released to the OVP during the first three quarters of 2023, including the P62 million in reward payments unsupported by evidence of successful information-gathering or surveillance activities.

Del Campo described the OVP’s 2023 confidential fund transactions as irregular for failing to comply with the joint circular.

“With the OVP, this is irregular because it wasn’t compliant with the joint circular,” she said.

The P500 million in OVP confidential funds forms part of the P612.5 million at the center of the first impeachment filed against Duterte, which accuses her of misuse and irregular liquidation of confidential funds released to the OVP and the Department of Education. /atm