IMPEACHED Vice President Sara Duterte deliberately refused to comply with the Commission on Audit (COA) requirement to submit a list of recipients for P612.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as education secretary, lawmakers alleged.
Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union made this assertion in reaction to the statement of former COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza that the Vice President and other agency heads were obliged to comply with the requirement.
Ortega said the issue with the Vice President was not a matter of failure but refusal to comply to probably hide something.
“Hindi naman sa hindi nagko-comply. Ayaw talaga nilang mag-comply. ‘Yan ang nakikita kong problema dyan. Siyempre kung may tinatago ka, magkaka problema ka talaga dyan,” he said.
“Alam naman po natin ‘yan kasi during the committee on good government na mga hearings, nasabi naman po ng COA lahat yan. Kumbaga, subject to COA rules talaga lahat ‘yan at meron naman silang procedure sa mga ‘yan. So napakasimple, ayaw lang talaga nilang mag-comply. Bakit, may tinatago siguro sila,” he said.
The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua, has conducted several hearings on the alleged misuse of VP Duterte’s confidential funds.
Chua supported Mendoza’s statement, saying the list of CIF beneficiaries is supposed to be given to the COA in a sealed envelope to protect confidential informants.
“In fact, dito po sa mga tinatawag nating mga ginagamit po sa confidential fund na mga intel operators, ‘yung mga ginagamit po nilang mga pangalan, eto’y dapat nakalagay sa isang sealed envelope. May mga requirement po na isinaad ang COA. Dapat ito’y nakalagay sa isang sealed envelope at itong sealed envelope na ito nakalagay confidential at ito ay tinatago sa isang vault,” he said.
“So bakit magkakaroon ng ganyang requirement kung hindi naman tunay na pangalan ang ilalagay? Kaya nga may mga protective measures na ganito dahil nga para maprotektahan ‘yung mga pangalan, ‘yung mga tao na ginamit dito sa intelligence gathering. So, kung ilalagay mo lang naman dyan mga pangalan na kagaya ng Mary Grace Piattos at kung anu-ano pa, so bakit pa maglalagay ng ganyang mga proteksyon ang ating COA,” he said.
Mary Grace Piattos was among hundreds of fictitious names used by the OVP in acknowledgement receipts showing huge amounts supposedly received by its informants, including the bogus Mary Grace Piattos.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has issued a certification showing that the alleged payees had no birth or marriage record.
These findings prompted the committee to conclude that the P612.5 million in CIFs received by OVP and DepEd under VP Duterte has been allegedly misused.
The Vice President had refused to cooperate with the Chua committee in its inquiry.
In a television interview, Mendoza said, “As head of the agency, it is there in the guidelines, you are to adopt internal controls that will protect the funds. This means if you have a list of aliases (of confidential informants), you must also keep a separate list of their real identities.”
“One of the controls as specified in the guidelines is keeping a journal that is subject to inspection by the COA or its representative, when questions are raised. Yes, it’s true an agency may write down only the aliases. But as a government official, first and foremost, your responsibility is to safeguard the people’s money,” she said
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