Adiong: Looks like confidential funds used to boost VP Sara’s political stock

CONFIDENTIAL funds meant for secret government operations may have instead been used for activities that helped promote Vice President Sara Duterte’s political plans, House prosecution spokesperson Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said Tuesday, citing the latest testimony of a Commission on Audit (COA) state auditor.

“Sa aking palagay, parang connected dito sa pagkikilala at pangangampanya ng VP,” Adiong said in a radio interview Tuesday, referring to activities charged to the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds.

Adiong was reacting to the testimony of COA state auditor Xylene Del Campo, who told the Senate Impeachment Court that the OVP had listed Christmas activities, a Knights of Rizal event, thanksgiving and coordination meetings, tree planting, gift-giving and medical missions among the activities supporting its confidential fund liquidation.

For Adiong, the nature of the activities itself raised questions.

“Paano ka magiging confidential in nature ng Christmas party?” he asked. “Paano ka magkakaroon ng isang confidential by nature na activity na pakikipag-coordinate ka sa Knights of Rizal?”

Del Campo testified that these activities were not among those allowed under the Joint Circular governing the use of confidential funds.

She also said some of the activities were conducted from Dec. 13 to 18, 2022, even though the OVP’s cash advance covered only Dec. 21 to 31.

Adiong said the timing also raised doubts because the reported activities came before the funds were released.

“Kasi ang only way you can actually conduct an activity, ang gagastusin mo is ang confidential funds na hindi nauuna muna ang aktibidad bago pa i-release ang pera,” Adiong said.

He said the circumstances indicate that confidential funds were used to reimburse activities that were not covered by the rules.

“So mukhang ang tingin natin, ni-reimburse yung activity na hindi saklaw nung ina-allow sa Joint Circular, na mukhang itong activity na ito ay ginagawa para sa kanyang personal,” Adiong said.

He added that the latest testimony should also be viewed alongside the questions raised over the OVP’s acknowledgment receipts (AR), which in some cases lacked enough supporting documents to establish who received the money and how it was used.

Adiong said the burden is now on the OVP to provide documents proving that the people named in the receipts were real recipients and that the transactions were legitimate confidential fund activities.

“Kayo ang pinanggalingan ng AR, kayo ang may kilala sa mga informants ninyo; the burden of proof has now shifted to the defense,” he said.

According to Adiong, these questions are becoming more important as the impeachment court examines whether the confidential funds were actually used for legitimate confidential operations.

COA has issued two Notice of Disallowance on the OVP’s confidential fund utilization for a total amount of about P448 million. Among the reasons cited were lack of documents proving the success of related information-gathering/surveillance activities and failure to show the items were for confidential operations, in violation of the governing Joint Circular.

The testimony of Del Campo forms part of the House prosecution panel’s presentation of evidence in the impeachment case against Duterte involving the alleged misuse of confidential funds.