COMMISSION on Audit (COA) guidelines on confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) do not prohibit the use of code names or aliases — even obviously fictional ones such as “Mary Grace Piattos,” “Chippy McDonald” and “Mickey Mouse” in acknowledgment receipts submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
This was the testimony of former COA-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office state auditor Roderick Wamil during the 13th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte when senators questioned the appearance of absurd aliases in the acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP for disbursements made between Dec. 21 and 31, 2022.
The names became a focal point of the impeachment proceedings after the House of Representatives cited them as examples of allegedly questionable supporting documents used in the liquidation of confidential funds.
Senator-Judge Bam Aquino asked Wamil whether government agencies are allowed to use aliases or fictitious names for intelligence agents or informants who receive confidential funds under COA-Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Joint Circular 2015-01.
Wamil replied that the circular is silent on the issue, explaining that it neither expressly authorizes nor prohibits the use of aliases.
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“The circular is silent. It is neither allowed nor prohibited,” Wamil testified.
He explained that COA’s audit of confidential funds is document-based and compliance-oriented, meaning auditors determine whether submitted documents comply with the requirements of the joint circular rather than independently verifying the identities of the persons named in the receipts.
“As auditors, we are document-based. We have no way of determining whether a name is an alias or not,” he said.
Despite the absence of an explicit prohibition, Wamil emphasized that supporting documents — such as actual receipts that were missing in the OVP’s case — are still expected to identify actual persons.
He told senator-judges that auditors presume the names appearing in liquidation documents refer to real individuals, even if COA has no mechanism under the circular to verify whether a listed name is an alias.
The issue resurfaced during questioning by Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo, who asked why COA had not initiated legal action if it found the OVP’s confidential fund disbursements suspicious.
Wamil said COA cannot immediately file or refer cases to the Office of the Ombudsman based solely on audit findings.
Under COA rules, he said, referral to the Ombudsman may only be made after a final audit order has been issued and the audited agency fails to comply with that order.
Asked about the current status of the audit findings involving the OVP, Wamil said he no longer has personal knowledge because he has since been reassigned to another office.
He added that developments involving confidential fund audits are not routinely disclosed to all COA personnel due to the confidential nature of the proceedings.
The exchange formed part of the Senate impeachment court’s continuing examination of the vice president’s confidential fund expenditures, including whether the liquidation documents submitted by the OVP complied with COA-DBM Joint Circular 2015-01 and other government auditing regulations.
The alleged use of fictitious names in acknowledgment receipts covering confidential fund disbursements has emerged as one of the prosecution’s key issues in seeking to establish whether public funds were properly accounted for.
No receipts or invoices
Wamil said the OVP did not submit any official receipts or sales invoices to support the liquidation of its P125-million confidential funds spent from Dec. 21 to 31, 2022, relying solely on acknowledgment receipts.
Wamil testified that the liquidation report submitted by the OVP contained only acknowledgment receipts, making it the first such case he had encountered in his audit experience involving confidential and intelligence funds.
“The OVP did not submit any official receipts or sales invoices. They submitted only acknowledgment receipts (ARs),” Wamil said in response to questions from senator-judges.
Wamil clarified, however, that he could not categorically say whether the practice was unique across the entire government since the OVP and a limited number of agencies were the only offices under his audit jurisdiction that submitted liquidation reports containing only ARs.
Pressed by senator-judges on whether agencies receiving CIFs are required to have official receipts or sales invoices to support their expenses, Wamil maintained that such documents are necessary as audit evidence.
He said official receipts and sales invoices enable COA to verify whether the expenses declared in the liquidation report actually correspond to legitimate purchases or transactions.
“If the official receipts or sales invoices had been presented, we would have been able to validate whether the expenditures reflected in the liquidation report were accurate,” Wamil told the impeachment court.
Wamil also said requiring receipts for confidential fund disbursements would not jeopardize national security, in response to a question from Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo.
“Yesterday, attorney [Michael] Poa [of the defense] said the circular stating that the names of the recipients should not be disclosed for security and national security reasons. In your opinion, would it compromise the security of the informants if you asked them to provide receipts for the medicines they received through the confidential funds?” Tulfo asked.
Wamil clarified that COA was not asking for the identities of recipients but only proof that purchases had actually been made.
Questioned by Senator-Judge Risa Hontiveros, Wamil said it was not normal for medicine to be given in exchange for intelligence information, as was the case in “Mary Grace Piattos” acknowledgment receipt, who allegedly received P70,000 worth of medicine.
Wamil said the OVP under Duterte was the first agency to use medicines as a form of payment.
He also said COA did not investigate what illnesses the medicines were intended to treat or why recipients had to provide intelligence information before receiving them.
Piattos, alongside other supposed beneficiaries of the OVP’s confidential funds, was flagged by the House prosecution for being “dubious.” Wamil said the documents submitted to COA did not contain that information, although auditors were allowed to seek clarification on unusual transactions under the governing joint circular.
He also testified that the OVP failed to submit evidence showing that the intelligence or surveillance operations linked to the reward payments had produced results.
Wamil said the absence of such proof meant the OVP did not comply with the joint circular and prevented COA from confirming whether the rewards had actually reached informants.
COA rules need updating
Senator-Judge Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday said the COA rules governing the audit of CIF should be updated and expanded to ensure greater accountability.
Lacson raised the need to revisit the Joint Memorandum Circular after Wamil said that the agency’s audit of CIF is limited to a document-based compliance audit under current guidelines.
“Why are you limited to paper audits? Don’t you have physical audits? It seems your current auditing system is lacking. How would you know if the one signing the acknowledgment receipts is a legitimate person if you cannot determine if the person behind the alias is a real person?” Lacson said.
“You may want to recommend an amendment to your Joint Memorandum Circular. Your current auditing process is lacking,” he said.
Lacson suggested that after-surveillance or after-intelligence reports be recognized as evidence of the success of a surveillance or intelligence-gathering activity.
Lacson also questioned how auditors could conduct a thorough audit of CIFs without the appropriate security clearance to access classified documents. WITH JAMES DANIEL DANIO