Sara Duterte not only VP to receive confidential funds, lawyer says

Vice President Sara Duterte is not the only vice president to receive confidential funds since 2014, defense lawyer Michael Poa said during the resumption of the impeachment trial Tuesday. During the proceedings, Poa presented a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) indicating the release of confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2014. Jejomar Binay was the sitting vice-president in 2014. “I just wanted to put that on record because marami nang lumalabas sa social media na si VP Sara lang ang vice president na nagka-confidential funds,” Poa said. On Monday, former Commission on Audit-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO) Auditor Roderick Wamil testified that Duterte was the only vice president and Education secretary to receive appropriations for confidential funds among the past three administrations. Wamil, who served with the COA-ICFAO from September 2014 to February 2024, said it was only during Duterte's tenure that he audited confidential funds appropriated for both the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd). “This has not been pre-marked. We just came upon this document yesterday after the statements were made. Upon the agreement made during the pre-trial, we request that this be marked as an exhibit for the defense,” Poa said. GMA News Online has reached out to Binay’s camp for comment and will publish it soon as it is available. In a separate interview, Poa apologized to Binay’s camp should he offended anyone. He also stressed he raised the matter to “protect the rights of my client, especially against misleading information.” “I have to apologize if I offended anyone from VP Binay’s camp. I didn’t want to drag his name into any of this,” Poa told reporters. “I wanted to clarify…because as you know sa socmed kahapon parang pinapalabas na si VP Sara lang ang first-ever vice president na nagkaroon ng confidential funds,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News