The Office of the Vice President (OVP) under Vice President Sara Duterte allegedly spent P16 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) to rent 34 safehouses for just 11 days during the last quarter of 2022.

This was revealed on Thursday, October 17, during the ongoing investigation by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability. The investigation, aimed at examining potential misuse of public funds, focuses on the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), which was also under Duterte’s leadership from June 30, 2022, to July 19, 2024.

Manila 3rd district Representative Joel Chua, who chairs the anti-corruption panel (the House’s equivalent to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee), led the investigation.

The panel discovered that one of the safehouses rented by the OVP charged P91,000 per day. Records presented showed that the OVP spent a total of P16 million on renting 34 safehouses, with payments ranging from P250,000 to P1 million for each property between December 21 and December 31, 2022.

These payments were listed in a report submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit (COA) to explain the spending of P125 million in CIFs over the same 11-day period. CIFs are classified as secret funds, meaning they aren’t subject to the usual auditing procedures.

None of the OVP representatives attended the hearing, so the lawmakers directed their questions to lawyer Gloria Camora, the leader of the COA team that audited the OVP’s CIFs in 2023.

Representative Chua, surprised by the high costs, questioned why expensive properties were rented as “safehouses.” He compared the daily rate of P91,000 paid by the OVP to the much lower monthly rental rates in high-end areas like Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City, which are around P90,000.

“Hindi po ba kayo nagtaka kung bakit ganoon kamahal? Wala po kayong information kung gaano kalaki ang building (safehouse)?” Chua asked. (Weren’t you surprised with the rate? Didn’t you have any information about the size of the building?)

Camora responded that the audit team had no specific details about the size or location of the rented safehouses.

After the hearing, Chua mentioned that he wished Vice President Duterte had attended the inquiry.
“Sana nga lang mag-take siya ng oath, at tsaka sana sagutin din niya yung mga katanungan (But I hope she takes an oath and actually answers the questions),” he said.

The COA had previously issued a notice of disallowance, essentially a directive to return P73.28 million out of the P125 million CIFs used by the OVP in December 2022.

The OVP justified these rental payments using receipts that were unsigned, unclear, missing names, or only had recipient signatures. Additionally, these receipts lacked supporting documents like lease agreements or relevant records.

During questioning by Antipolo City 2nd district Representative Romeo Acop, Camora said that the OVP followed the COA’s guidelines for using CIFs, including the use of these problematic receipts. Acop, a retired police brigadier general, expressed frustration that COA only relied on these documents without verifying their authenticity.

“So, walang paraan ang COA para malaman kung gawa-gawa lang ang mga acknowledgment receipts na sinubmit? (So there’s no way for COA to find out if the submitted receipts were just fabricated?)
“Would my statement be correct?” Acop asked, to which Camora replied, “Yes, Mr. Chair.”

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