OVP's Use of Confidential Funds Allegedly Violated Joint Circular, Ex-COA Auditor Testifies

The Office of the Vice President's (OVP) physical and financial plan for its confidential funds in 2022 did not comply with a joint circular requiring the actual use of the funds to be indicated, a former state auditor testified before the Senate impeachment court on Monday. Roderick Wamil, former state auditor of the Commission on Audit (COA) – Intelligence and Confidential Funds Office, and currently team leader at COA's Pasig office, was referring to Joint Circular No. 2015-01, signed by COA, the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Governments, and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations. Item 4.2 of the joint circular requires every allocation for confidential funds to be backed by a physical and financial plan stating the amount proposed for each program and activity as a basis for the disbursement of the funds. Wamil said confidential funds may only be spent on purchasing information relevant to national security and peace and order, renting vehicles and maintaining safe houses for confidential activities, renting or purchasing equipment for operations that cannot go through regular procurement, paying informers, and activities to prevent harm to agency personnel and property. Upon questioning by Lorna Kapunan, counsel for the prosecution panel, Wamil said there were no attached documents attesting to the "success" of activities that would justify the OVP's payment of rewards using its confidential funds. Payment of rewards to informers requires "documents evidencing the success of the information gathering and/or surveillance activities on account of the information given by the informer," and that it must be "directly related to the conduct of the specific confidential activities of authorized agencies," according to the circular. Kapunan showed Wamil acknowledgment receipts signed by "Mary Grace Piattos," "Nova Santos" and "Mico P. Harina," and asked him whether the receipts were a violation of the joint circular. The witness testified there were no supporting documents to prove the success of their information-gathering activities that would support the payments as required by the circular. Asked by Kapunan, Wamil confirmed that after he received an explanation from the OVP about the documents, COA issued a notice of suspension for non-compliance with the joint circular's requirement to provide enough documents to prove that they "succeeded" in information-gathering activities using the confidential funds as payment to informers. According to item 4.27 of COA Circular No. 2009-06, "Suspension is a temporary disallowance. It refers to transactions or accounts which appear illegal/improper/irregular unless satisfactorily explained or justified by the responsible officers or until the requirements on matters raised in the course of audit are submitted or complied with." Wamil further testified that he has audited the OVP since becoming the state auditor in 2014, and that it was only during Duterte's time that the office had confidential funds. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)