The Commission on Audit (CoA) revealed on Thursday that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has spent at least P16 million for the rental of safe houses in just 11 days, with daily rental costs reaching as high as P250,000.
State auditors disclosed that the P16 million was part of the OVP's P125 million confidential funds, which were also spent in a mere 11 days from 21 to 31 December 2022, Vice President Sara Duterte's first year in office.
CoA intelligence and confidential funds auditor Gloria Camora presented 34 acknowledgment receipts before the House Good Government and Public Accountability Committee. Two of these receipts showed that the OVP spent P1 million each on 26 and 28 December.
According to Camora, each receipt represents one safe house. Thus, the P1 million spent on 28 December translates to a daily rental of P250,000.
Panel chairperson Joel Chua said that the amount was excessively high for a house lease compared to those of high-end luxury hotels and condos in Boracay and Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City, which only range from P25,000 to P90,000 per day and month, respectively.
While the OVP submits necessary receipts subject to audit, Camora said they could not provide further information on the safe houses due to a lack of manpower and the confidential nature of the fund.
"You know, when you looked at the receipts, you should have already been surprised by the rent amount in 11 days. P16 million is very glaring," Chua told Camora.
Camora explained that the audit team could not determine whether the rented properties are top-end to warrant such an enormous amount. However, she assured lawmakers that the OVP complied with the essential requirements, including a CoA joint circular on the use of confidential and intelligence funds.
Meantime, Antipolo Representative Romeo Acop stressed that CoA could have done better rather than solely relying on documentary proof of payment, with no way to verify the authenticity of the information.
Some of the acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP were unsigned, illegible, had missing names, or only included the signatures of recipients. The documentary also lacked supporting paper trails such as lease contracts or other pertinent records.
Audit records also showed the OVP spent the same amount of P16 million for safehouse rentals in both the first and second quarters of 2023, Duterte's first full year in office, but with significantly longer rental periods compared to the 11 days in the fourth quarter of 2022.
In the third quarter of 2023, the OVP spent P5 million for safehouse rentals covering 79 days, bringing the total rent expenses across all four quarters to P53 million.
Aside from the alleged questionable lease, the OVP also spent P40 million for medical and food aid in a span of 11 days.
The P125 million was part of the P221.42 million contingent fund of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s office transferred to Duterte's office as secret funds.
Opposition lawmakers earlier insinuated that this was unconstitutional, given that there was no line item for it in the 2022 General Appropriations Act.
To recall, the Vice President has been at the center of the House probe over allegations of mismanagement of her office's funds and the Department of Education, which she headed for nearly two years until her resignation on 19 June.
She repeatedly maintained that her office was never engaged in fund misuse and that the probe was aimed to "discredit" her ahead of the 2028 polls.