MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio insisted there was no misuse of P73-million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2022, as alleged by her critics.
In a statement sent to Panay News, Duterte-Carpio said the House of Representatives, led by House Speaker Ferdinand “Martin” Romualdez and Cong. France Castro, are just ganging up on her to cover-up the real problem of the country, which is high food prices.
“There was no misuse of any funds. There is, however, [an] unending political attack by the Makabayan-Romualdez-Marcos alliance to mask the real problem of the country right now,” Duterte-Carpio said.
“This is the sad plight of the poor and the hungry because of the unabated rise of food prices. Ordinary citizens’ principles are not for sale, ayuda will not solve the growing dissent. It is a classic ‘wag the dog’ piece,” she added.
The Commission on Audit (COA) had previously issued a Notice of Disallowance on P73 million out of the P125 million confidential funds the Office of the Vice President, under Duterte, disbursed in 11 days.
COA Assistant Commissioner Alexander Juliano previously said that the Notice of Disallowance meant that the expenditure was “either irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable.”
Responding to her tirade, Castro said that Duterte-Carpio “broke the law” and the COA’s findings showed “a clear betrayal of public trust,” and what she did is a ground for impeachment.
“COA’s findings reveal a glaring misuse of public funds. It is becoming apparent that Duterte was banking on the supposed veil of secrecy around Confidential Funds to hide her unlawful use of people’s money,” Castro said.
“Hindi naman pwedeng gagawa ng kalokohan tapos pababayaan na lang, dapat may accountability. Her misuse of confidential funds is an impeachable offense,” she added.
“Sa paglulustay ng confidential funds, sa panahong kulang na kulang ang pondo para sa serbisyong publiko, at sa pagtangging ipaliwanag ito sa taumbayan, malinaw na may batayan ang impeachment,” Castro further said./PN
