Press Officer of Malacañang Speaks on COA Rating over Duterte Office’s Budget Report
Malacañang reacted to the “unmodified opinion” rating of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the budget report of the office of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte remains in the midst of questions and issues regarding the alleged misuse of the Confidential Funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP). She is also faced with an impeachment case and countless Filipinos doubt if the impeachment trial will push through.
Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives last February 5. Prior to it, the lower chamber conducted several hearings over the alleged misuse of the Confidential Funds of the OVP and the Department of Education when she was the DepEd secretary.
Amid the senators having different takes on the issue, Sen. Risa Hontiveros recently insisted that impeachment complaint of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte is already within the jurisdiction of the Senate impeachment court and the senator judges must do their job to conduct a trial.
Recently, the Commission on Audit or COA released its findings over the reports of the different government offices regarding their budget use. The budget-auditing body gave the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte an “unmodified opinion” rating.
OVP spokesperson Atty. Ruth Castelo recalled that the OVP has been a constant recipient of the “unmodified opinion” rating from COA since 2022. According to her, it means that the office did an organized submission of the financial reports of Duterte’s office.
“It is fairly presented. It is honest. It is transparent,” she said.
Malacañang recently reacted to the claim of the spokesperson of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a post on News5, Palace press undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro claimed that the “unmodified rating” of COA on the budget reports of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office is allegedly not a proof there are no anomalies as to the spending of the funds.
According to Castro, the “unmodified opinion” rating is just about the right reporting of the budget spending of the OVP. Based on the post, the Malacañang official stressed that the utilization of the budget is allegedly a different issue.
“Tama ang pagkaka-report. Balanse. Pero kung ginamit ng tama, iba pong isyu ‘yun,” the Malacañang press undersecretary said.