Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense panel scored a key development on Tuesday, August 11, following testimony from a Commission on Audit (COA) official called by the prosecution.
During the 14th day of the impeachment trial, state auditor Xylene del Campo of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Auditing Unit revealed that the Department of Education’s (DepEd) handling of confidential funds during Duterte’s tenure as agency head had received official clearance for the first two quarters of 2023.
“Based po sa evaluation, ito po ay compliant sa Joint Circular [No. 2015-01]…. For the first and second quarter po ng 2023 ng DepEd, we issued a credit notice,” Del Campo testified under questioning from private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan.
“This (credit notice) is issued pagkatapos ng evaluation ng documents. ‘Yong liquidation documents are found in order and passed in audit na,” Del Campo explained.
The testimony addresses a central element of the prosecution’s case. COA previously issued an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) regarding ₱112.5 million in DepEd confidential funds disbursed in three ₱37.5 million quarterly tranches. Del Campo’s testimony confirmed that the audit agency issued credit notices clearing the first two quarters, though audit queries regarding the third quarter remain open.
Defense spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa noted that the testimony validates the defense team’s longstanding position.
“Dati pa namin sinasabi ‘yan, kahit mga committee hearings pa lang, na talagang may credit notice ang DepEd…. But ‘yan ang fact. I think it was August 9, 2024, when DepEd received its credit notice,” Poa stated.
The initial impeachment article focuses on allegations of misused confidential funds across both DepEd and the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
COA previously disallowed OVP confidential fund liquidations totaling ₱73 million for 2022 and ₱375 million for 2023.