Is Sara’s confi funds officer Superman? Prosecution flags OVP’s one disbursement day nationwide

VEEP. This file photo shows Vice President Sara Duterte. Sara Duterte's Facebook page If the acknowledgment receipts were truthful, how could Vice President Sara Duterte's special disbursing officer have handed out confidential funds in different parts of the Philippines on a single day? MANILA, Philippines – Why did the prosecution have to invoke Superman for a moment during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial? The comic book superhero found his way into the records of the high-stakes proceedings on Tuesday, August 11, as private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan tried to underscore how physically impossible it was for the special disbursing officers (SDO) of Duterte’s offices to be in various locations across the Philippines in a single day to release her confidential funds. Kapunan, in her direct examination of the prosecution’s latest witness, state auditor Xylene Mae del Campo, examined the acknowledgment receipts submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to the Commission on Audit (COA) to justify the use of its secret funds. The receipts, bearing signatures of allegedly fictitious names, have long been suspected to be fabricated, but Kapunan’s apparent goal on Tuesday was to cast a national spotlight on the implausibility of the circumstances surrounding the receipt. For example, numerous acknowledgment receipts were issued on February 21, 2023, but the addresses were far from each other: Bulacan, Makati City, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Davao City, and Agusan del Sur, among others. The same “one disbursement day nationwide” pattern can also be observed for receipts dated February 25, 2023, March 15, 2023, and August 9, 2023. Could multiple people from the OVP and DepEd have handed out the cash simultaneously that day? For Duterte to make that argument, she would have to concede that doing so violated the government’s joint circular, which provides that only the designated special disbursing officer may release confidential and intelligence funds. “If the SDO is not Superman, [could] they go to all of these locations?” Kapunan asked Del Campo, although the question was objected to by the defense team for being speculative. “What is speculative about Superman? He can fly anywhere in one day,” Kapunan added, but the trial’s presiding officer, Chiz Escudero, asked her to move on with her questioning. Notice of disallowance Gina Acosta, her SDO in the OVP, already testified during a House good government inquiry in 2024 that, upon Duterte’s directive, she transferred cash advances for confidential funds to Raymund Lachica, Duterte’s security officer. That admission by Acosta, as per Del Campo, was the reason the COA skipped the issuance of a notice of suspension against the OVP and proceeded with a notice of disallowance for P375 million in her confidential spending in the first three quarters of 2023. This ND is not yet final, but a separate ND on her P73 million out of P125 million in secret funds in 2022 already is. Speaking to Rappler, former COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza said state auditors are allowed to issue an ND right away. “If it’s clearly an outright disallowance, you don’t issue a notice of suspension first,” Mendoza explained, adding that Duterte’s right to due process was not violated because she could still respond to the ND. ‘Does VP Sara understand the rules?’ Another major takeaway from Day 14 of the trial was the revelation of how the defense justified the P73 million in disallowed confidential funds in 2022: her office said they had been used in relation to Christmas parties and tree-planting activities. Notably, the OVP cited activities dated before her office encashed the funds on December 20, 2022. Could the OVP have listed the said activities prior to December 20 for reimbursement of the funds used at a later date? The joint circular is clear: it says cash advance for secret funds cannot be utilized as reimbursement of prior expenses. “The big question here is: does the Vice President understand the rules?” public prosecutor Kaka Bag-ao told Rappler. “If you put a malicious spin on what happened, it would seem as though the report had been doctored. But even then, it still doesn’t add up,” she added. It’s the defense team’s turn to cross-examine Del Campo on Wednesday, August 12. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading