MANILA, Philippines — Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro defended Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Roderick Wamil on Thursday, saying he consistently stood by his findings on Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential fund use despite repeated questions from senator-judge Imee Marcos during the impeachment trial.
Luistro, a member of the prosecution panel, said Wamil maintained that Duterte served as the accountable officer for confidential fund disbursements and that her offices were the only ones among vice presidential offices in the past decade that underwent audits involving such funds.
“What I observed from him is he really insisted on answering the question of Senator Imee Marcos,” Luistro said during an online press briefing. “Even if they have different points and even if he was talking to a senator-judge, he really maintained his position.”
Luistro attributed Wamil’s confidence to the legal basis of his testimony, particularly the provisions of Joint Circular No. 2015-01 governing confidential funds.
She said Wamil repeatedly cited specific provisions of the joint circular when answering Marcos’ questions.
The exchange between Marcos and Wamil became one of the more tense moments during the fifth week of Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Marcos questioned Wamil’s testimony that Duterte was the only vice president audited for confidential fund expenditures. She cited the defense’s claim that former Vice President Jejomar Binay received P6 million in confidential funds in 2014.
Wamil said the circumstances involving Binay differed from Duterte’s case. He explained that authorities issued Binay a Special Allotment Release Order, or SARO, because the confidential fund allocation did not form part of the General Appropriations Act.
Wamil said the COA-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office could not determine whether Binay actually spent or liquidated the allocation without a liquidation report.
Marcos interrupted Wamil several times as he explained the distinction between Binay’s SARO and Duterte’s documented liquidation of confidential funds. At one point, she told Wamil that she knew what a SARO was after he said the defense had presented only the document to support its claim about Binay.
Presiding officer and senator-judge Francis Escudero later told Wamil not to argue with Marcos.
Marcos also challenged Wamil’s position that Duterte served as the accountable officer for confidential fund disbursements at the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
Marcos said Joint Circular No. 2015-01 defines the accountable officer as the agency head, a designated personnel or a special disbursement officer.
Wamil said that interpretation was not entirely correct because the joint circular also assigns the agency head responsibility for overseeing confidential operations.
Wamil testified before the impeachment court from Monday through Wednesday.
On Monday, he testified that the OVP used P40 million from its fourth-quarter 2022 confidential fund allocation to purchase medicines that officials classified as rewards. He said auditors found no documentary evidence of payment or proof that information-gathering and surveillance activities connected to the payments succeeded.
Wamil said Joint Circular No. 2015-01 does not allow confidential funds to pay for medicines and requires documentary evidence for reward payments.
On Tuesday, Wamil reported similar deficiencies in the OVP’s 2023 confidential fund expenditures. He said the office failed to submit required documentary evidence and used P42 million in the first quarter and P40 million in the second quarter to purchase medicines.
The confidential fund issue forms part of the impeachment case against Duterte. COA-ICFAO issued notices of disallowance covering P73 million of the OVP’s P125 million confidential fund allocation for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the entire P375 million allocated from the first through third quarters of 2023.
The COA en banc later affirmed the P73 million notice of disallowance.