Press Officer of Malacañang Reacts To Claims of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s Camp over COA Findings
Malacañang cited the “Notice of Disallowance” from the Commission on Audit (COA) over the budget spending of Vice President Sara Duterte’s office.
The camp of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte has repeatedly claimed that they are ready to answer the allegations against her in the proper forum. The Vice President is surrounded with accusations of misused Confidential Funds for around two (2) years now.
There are even impeachment moves against Duterte amid the accusations. However, recently, amid the accusations and the call of some people for the impeachment trial to proceed, the Supreme Court declared the impeachment complaint against Duterte as “unconstitutional” for not following the one-year rule.
Pres. Bongbong Marcos claimed that the Supreme Court’s decision on the impeachment complaint against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte has “no bearing on merits” of the case. He stressed that the high court was allegedly referring to the procedure only.
However, as for many senators, the Supreme Court has spoken. The Senate voted to archive the impeachment case against the Vice President.
Recently, Atty. Michael Poa, one of the lawyers and the spokesman of the legal team of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, spoke about the findings of the Commission on Audit on the budget spending of the OVP. Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s lawyer claimed that there was no mention of any corruption in the OVP in the COA findings.
Poa also claimed that COA only asked for the submission of more documents. Recently, Malacañang reacted to the statement of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s camp and highlighted the “Notice of Disallowance”.
Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, Malacañang stressed that the “Notice of Disallowance” is allegedly not just about lacking documents. According to Palace press officer undersecretary Claire Castro, it allegedly means there might be irregular, excessive, and questionable spendings.
“Tandaan po natin nagkaroon na po ng notice of disallowance at kapag sinabi po natin notice of disallowance hindi lamang ito basta-basta kulang sa dokumento, nagsasabi ito na maaaring mayroong mga irregular, excessive at questionable spendings sa paggastos, so there’s sa presumption of misuse of funds,” Castro said.
Based on the report, the Malacañang official further said that it would be best to ask Atty. Michael Poa citing it was him who allegedly admitted about the P15 million spending with no receipts. According to Castro, Poa admitted during a hearing that they only secured certificates for a youth leadership summit but the education department also admitted that they did not spend for the event.
“So, lumalabas lamang po na iyong mga certificates na ginamit ni Attorney Poa para maibigay sa COA ay lumalabas na to cover up or panakip-butas para maipakita na may ginastos na P15 million,” she added.
Previously, on the allegations of misused confidential funds, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte reiterated that they will explain to the proper forum. She also claimed that they supplied all the requirements of the Supreme Court.