MANILA, Philippines — A Commission on Audit (COA) auditor told the Senate impeachment court Monday that an acknowledgment receipt for a P110,000 confidential fund payout from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) fell outside the authorized period for the 2022 fund, as prosecutors examined recipients with names similar to “Mary Grace Piattos.”
COA auditor Roderick Wamil testified that an acknowledgment receipt signed by “Renan Piatos” showed a payment dated Dec. 27, 2023, even though the OVP’s fourth-quarter 2022 confidential fund covered disbursements from Dec. 21 to 31, 2022.
Wamil said the document did not establish the actual date the money changed hands but confirmed that the date indicated on the receipt fell outside the authorized period.
“Based on this acknowledgement receipt, binayad po siya noong December 27, 2023, which one year po after no’ng supposedly coverage ng kanilang cash advance for confidential fund,” Wamil said.
Prosecutor Lorna Kapunan presented the receipt during the 11th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. She asked Wamil to explain his findings regarding the document.
Presiding Officer and Sen. Francis Escudero later clarified that the OVP’s cash advance covered Dec. 21 to 31, 2022. Wamil agreed that the receipt did not fall within that period because it carried a 2023 date.
Renan Piatos is among several recipients whose names appeared in acknowledgment receipts submitted as part of the OVP’s liquidation of confidential fund expenditures.
Another recipient listed in the documents is “Pia Piatos-Lim,” while “Mary Grace Piattos” also appeared in an acknowledgment receipt presented during Monday’s hearing.
Wamil previously testified that the P70,000 payment to Mary Grace Piattos for medicines could not be properly supported because the OVP did not submit documents showing that the information-gathering activity connected to the reward had succeeded.
He said the transaction did not comply with Joint Circular No. 2015-01, which governs the use of confidential and intelligence funds.
“Since it is payment of rewards, it is not enough to show acknowledgement receipts,” Wamil said. He added that the OVP needed documents showing the success of the information-gathering activity.
The prosecution also presented acknowledgment receipts bearing the names “Andy Lim” and “Alejandro A. Pikit.” Kapunan made remarks about the names during her presentation, prompting an objection from defense panel member Michael Poa, who argued that the prosecutor was adding “color” to the documents.
Kapunan said she was only reading the names as they appeared on the receipts. Escudero eventually directed her to proceed with the presentation.
Wamil, the prosecution’s third witness for Article I of the impeachment case, has testified about alleged irregularities in the liquidation of confidential funds from the OVP and the Department of Education, which Duterte headed concurrently.
The prosecution has alleged that Duterte’s offices misused confidential funds. Wamil said COA disallowed hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential fund expenditures from the OVP, including expenses that lacked required supporting documents.
He also testified that former Vice Presidents Jejomar Binay and Leni Robredo did not undergo similar confidential fund audits during his tenure at the COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office because their offices did not receive confidential fund appropriations.