FACT CHECK: Contrary to claims, COA has flagged deficiencies in OVP’s 2023 spending

Claim: The Commission on Audit (COA) has not found deficiencies in the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s spending in 2023.

Defending her office’s spending, Vice President Sara Duterte said: “The COA findings and recommendations should be enough to disappoint ACT Teachers Partylist, and if only France Castro read the COA papers, it would have saved them the time and the energy to conjure wild speculations about OVP spending.”

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The claim can be found in a September 18 post on the X account of user “Dumbfounded” (@fierceLady79). 

The post bears the following text: “COA find [sic] no deficiencies on OVP 2023 audit report.” 

As if to support this claim, the post includes a Manila Bulletin quote card from Vice President Sara Duterte, which contains the same text.

As of writing, the post has around 172 comments, 346 shares, 876 reactions, 31 bookmarks, and 87,700 views. 

Several Facebook posts also shared the same photo with the caption; a notable one is a September 17 post on the official Facebook page of Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte. 

Others include posts on the Facebook pages “SARA TAYO” on September 18, “Dave in Indonesia” on September 18, “Ka Eric Celiz” on September 18, “Inday Sara Parallel Movement” on September 16, and “President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Achievements” on September 13.

The posts were made amid the controversies currently faced by the Vice President, as lawmakers questioned her office’s use of confidential funds during the deliberations for the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget.

The facts: Contrary to the claim, COA has flagged deficiencies in the OVP’s spending for 2023.

While the audit report on the OVP has not yet been publicly released on the COA website, some legislators reported having obtained a copy already and raised concerns about state auditors’ findings on the OVP’s poor liquidation practices.

Speaking to lawmakers, COA audit team leader Fahad Bin Abdul Malik Tomawis mentioned deficiencies in the OVP’s distribution of welfare goods. Lawmakers also noted state auditors’ observations that the OVP’s mobile kitchen program had food items nearing expiry or kept in unventilated shipping containers. (READ: Beyond the Sara-House rift: Valid budget questions hounding the OVP)

Also, in a House probe on September 18, COA said it flagged P164 million worth of the OVP’s confidential expenditures in 2023. 

Misleading use of the quote card: The Manila Bulletin article containing the quote was dated July 4, 2023. Duterte’s statement specifically referred to auditors’ findings of deficiencies related to the OVP’s purchases of items for its satellite offices. These findings can be seen in the 2022 audit report of the OVP that COA published on July 3, 2023. (READ: COA flags Sara Duterte’s OVP over immediate creation of satellite offices)

Duterte’s full statement, a portion of which was used in the 2023-dated quote card, can also be found on the OVP’s Facebook page. In that statement, the OVP also said COA did not issue any notice of suspension or disallowance against the office. A year later, during the August 2024 budget deliberations for the OVP, it was revealed that COA disallowed P73 million out of P125 million confidential funds used by the OVP in 2022.

Evading questions: The misleading post circulated as the Vice President faces accusations of misuse of public funds. Duterte has repeatedly refused to answer lawmakers’ questions at the committee-level hearings for the OVP’s 2025 budget and snubbed the House plenary debates on her office’s funding request on September 23.

Previous related fact-checks: Rappler has fact-checked several claims pertaining to the COA and its findings before. – Percival Bueser/ Rappler.com 

Percival Bueser is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

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