VP 鈥榩urposely鈥� did not comply with COA requirement to list CF recipients
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte “purposely” did not comply with the requirements of the Commission on Audit (COA) to list real recipients of confidential funds worth P612.5 million given to the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education under her leadership, according to a lawmaker.
La Union Representative and Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V said the issue is the refusal to comply with the requirement, and not the failure to do so.
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“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,” Ortega said in a statement.
(It is not about failure to comply. She just did not want to comply. That’s the problem I see here. Of course, if you are hiding something, it will cause a problem.)
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Article continues after this advertisementHe noted that this was a response to the statement of senatorial candidate and former COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza that all agency heads are required to follow the COA guidelines in keeping a separate list of real identities of recipients of funds aside from their aliases.
Article continues after this advertisement“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,” Ortega added.
(We know that because the COA raised that during hearings of the committee on good government. These are all subject to COA rules and they have procedures. It is simple, they did not want to comply. Maybe, they are hiding something.)
Further, Manila City Representative and House committee on good government and public accountability chairperson Joel Chua echoed Mendoza’s statement, noting that “the list of CIF [confidential intelligence funds] is supposed to be given to the COA in a sealed envelope to protect confidential informants.”
“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 d’yan mga pangalan na kagaya ng Mary Grace Piattos at kung anu-ano pa, so bakit pa maglalagay ng ganyang mga proteksyon ang ating COA?” Chua argued.
(Why will there be such a requirement if they will not use real identities? The reason why such protective measures exist to protect the names used in the intelligence gathering. If names such as Mary Grace Piattos are included, why does COA need to have this kind of protection?)
The name Mary Grace Piattos surfaced during the investigation of the House panel on good government and public accountability where she was supposedly the person who signed acknowledgement receipts as part of the liquidation reports referring to the P23.8 million confidential funds covered by 158 receipts.
The Philippine Statistics Authority confirmed that there is no ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ in their live birth and death registry.
Previous House hearings had been probing the alleged misuse of the confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
A House probe found out that the OVP and the Department of Education submitted about 4,500 acknowledgement receipts to the Commission on Audit to explain how they used the P612.5 million of confidential funds.
