Vice President Sara Duterte had a very public spat with lawmakers from the House of Representatives during the 2025 budget deliberations of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Tuesday, August 27. This time, it wasn’t about the book she penned for elementary school children titled “Isang Kaibigan,” but about the notice of disallowance she received from the Commission on Audit (COA).

COA disallowed P73,287,000.00 in the P125-million confidential funds disbursed by the OVP in 2022. State auditors flagged the OVP for “non-submission of documents evidencing the success of information gathering/and or surveillance.” They then submitted the findings to the House committee on appropriations, which was cited by House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro.

What confidential operation justified a P10 million reward? Which informants needed medicine worth P24.9 million? Tables, chairs, printers, and desktop computers worth P3.5 million as a reward?

The Vice President acted as though she were a petulant child when these were raised at the budget hearing. Sure, she may not be the first government official to receive a notice of disallowance. But this is a big deal because this is the first irregularity discovered in Duterte’s controversial confidential funds.

The House budget hearing may have been turned into a televised circus, but there is nothing entertaining about the squandering of taxpayers’ money. – Rappler.com

Presenter, writer: Lian Buan
Producer, video editor: Cara Angeline Oliver
Videographer: Errol Almario
Graphics: Alyssa Arizabal
Associate producer: JC Gotinga
Supervising editor: Chay Hofileña
Supervising producer: Beth Frondoso