House panel flags discrepancies in receipts from Sara-led DepEd, OVP

Vice President Sara Duterte (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

By Filane Mikee Cervantes, Zaldy De Layola, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – A lawmaker on Wednesday flagged discrepancies in the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted to justify the confidential expenses of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte.

During the hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong raised the irregularities in the repeated use of the name “Kokoy Villamin” that appeared in multiple ARs with varying handwriting and signatures.

Adiong presented a Sept. 17, 2023 receipt from the OVP and another from DepEd, both bearing Villamin’s name but with conflicting signatures.

“Makikita po natin ‘yung medyo hindi ho kapanipaniwala. Ako, ordinary po ako na tao, I’m not an auditor, but as you can see it, pareho po ‘yung pangalan nila, Kokoy Villamin (We can see that it is somewhat unbelievable. I am just an ordinary person, I’m not an auditor, but as you can see, their names are the same, Kokoy Villamin),” he said.

“The acknowledgment receipt from the (OVP) and at the same time, from the DepEd, the same person, Kokoy Villamin from Ozamiz. Is it just a coincidence that the same two offices, headed by the same person, submitted the same (ARs) and encountered two persons with the same name? How unlikely would that be? Two persons with the same name bearing the same spelling, same last name, and the same first name.”

Adiong questioned the authenticity of the receipts.

“Based on the documents and the (ARs), we do not have any other ways to really affirm whether these persons and individuals who have received the confidential funds were truly alive and truly person,” he said.

Commission on Audit (COA) Intelligence and Confidential Funds Auditor Gloria Camora noted that the handwriting and signatures on the ARs were inconsistent.

Adiong said the OVP and DepEd submitted 2,670 and 1,820 ARs, respectively, to account for their confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs): PHP500 million for the OVP and PHP112.5 million for DepEd.

He expressed concern over the lack of supporting evidence accompanying these ARs, which were the sole documents used to account for the disbursed funds.

“These ARs were submitted as documentary evidence of supposed expenses using confidential funds. For the record, the OVP liquidated PHP500 million, and the DepEd liquidated PHP112.5 million, solely through these (ARs),” Adiong said.

He also raised concerns about why the anomalies were not flagged earlier, pointing to the separation of COA resident auditors for the two agencies.

“Kasi kung isa po ‘yung auditor nito, I think malalaman po nila ito and they will be flagged, ‘no? Kung bakit magkaparehong pangalan and magkaiba ‘yung signatures (Because if this is audited by one person, I think they will find out and they will be flagged, right? Why the names are the same but the signatures are different). Exactly the same spelling, and exactly the same family name,” Adiong said.

He highlighted the systemic abuse disclosed by these receipts.

“With this kind of itong pang-aabuso sa ganitong proseso ng pag-audit na ibibigay lang po nila as (ARs), it opens up so many floodgates of questions, which I believe ‘yun ‘yung pinakaimportante po na masagot (With this kind of abuse in this audit process that they will only provide as [ARs], it opens up so many floodgates of questions, which I believe is the most important to answer),” he said.

No-show

Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua warned four OVP officers that they would face criminal charges and possible imprisonment for repeatedly defying subpoenas to attend the House hearing on the alleged misuse of funds in the OVP and DepEd under Duterte’s leadership.

Chua was referring to Lemuel Ortonio, OVP chief of staff; Gina Acosta, OVP special disbursing officer; Sunshine Fajarda, former DepEd assistant secretary; and her husband Edward, former DepEd special disbursing officer.

“They are public officers, and under the law, they have the duty to attend congressional hearings,” he said.

Chua said the Supreme Court had declared in one case that attendance in a House or Senate hearing “is mandatory when one is summoned” and failure to honor a subpoena is subject to criminal sanctions under Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code.