COA Auditor Testifies VP Duterte Signed Report Certifying ₱125-Million Confidential Fund "Accomplished" After 11-Day Disbursement

Vice President Sara Duterte personally signed the disbursement voucher, accomplishment report and certification for a ₱125-million confidential-fund cash advance that her office spent in just 11 days, a former Commission on Audit (COA) auditor testified before the Senate impeachment court on August 3, 2026, according to the Manila Bulletin and Inquirer.net. The testimony came on day 11 of Duterte's impeachment trial, as the House prosecution panel pressed its case that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte led from 2022 to 2024, misused a combined ₱612.5 million in confidential funds. ## What the witness said Roderick Wamil, a former state auditor at COA's Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO), took the stand under direct examination by lead prosecutor Lorna Kapunan. Shown a disbursement voucher, Wamil identified Duterte's signature and said it certified "matters concerning the legality of the cash advance and its expenditure under her direct supervision." Asked to confirm the signature above Duterte's printed name, he said: "That is the signature po of the Vice President Sara Duterte." Kapunan then presented a liquidation report dated January 10, 2023, covering disbursements from December 21 to 31, 2022 — about 11 days. Wamil testified that the underlying Physical and Financial Plan indicated the ₱125-million cash advance was meant to cover the entire fourth quarter of 2022, from October through December, yet the OVP's own liquidation paperwork showed it was spent in less than two weeks. "Based on this document po, na-disburse lang siya (it was disbursed) from December 21 to 31, 2022, or around 11 days," Wamil told the court, adding that the 11-day figure came directly from the OVP's own liquidation report, not from an outside estimate. Wamil also identified Duterte's signature on the OVP's accomplishment report, submitted to COA's ICFAO under the heading "approved by," and on a separate OVP certification bearing her signature under the word "attested." He explained that the certification signified Duterte was "confirming and verifying that the contents of this certification are true." However, Wamil said the accomplishment report "did not enumerate the specific confidential activities" the OVP undertook — detail he said COA needed to determine whether the spending fell within the allowable purposes listed under Item 4.8 of Joint Circular No. 2015-01, the rule governing confidential and intelligence funds. He also flagged a dating discrepancy: the certification was dated January 10, 2022, even though it pertained to a fourth-quarter-2022 cash advance, and was notarized on January 16, 2023. Wamil said his team found no other violation in that particular document once the required form was accounted for, and that the discrepancies prompted him to draft an Audit Observation Memorandum. ## Fifteen boxes of records Monday's hearing opened with prosecutors wheeling in 15 boxes of documents labeled "confidential funds," which Kapunan told the court contained the OVP and DepEd's liquidation records supporting the ₱612.5 million at issue — ₱500 million from the OVP for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first three quarters of 2023, and ₱112.5 million from DepEd for the first three quarters of 2023. Many of the records reprise findings from the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability's 2024 inquiry, which surfaced acknowledgment receipts under names such as "Mary Grace Piattos," "Milky Sekuya" and "Kokoy Villamin" — names the committee said were used to justify confidential-fund disbursements to purportedly fictitious recipients. That inquiry also cited Philippine Statistics Authority records showing no matching birth records for many listed recipients, and National Bureau of Investigation findings that several acknowledgment receipts appeared to have been signed by the same hand. The court adjourned at 2:30 p.m. on August 3 and was set to resume the next morning with continued direct examination of Wamil. Additional COA witnesses — ICFAO state auditor Celine May Del Campo and House Legislative Information Resources Management Department director Marivic Pareja — were subpoenaed to testify August 4 and 5, respectively. Last week, the prosecution presented two former LandBank branch managers, Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano, who both testified that the large cash withdrawals by OVP and DepEd disbursing officers were "unusual." ## Context and the defense's position Duterte's camp has previously pushed back on the prosecution's framing of the timeline. Defense lawyer Michael Poa declined to stipulate to the prosecution's characterization that the OVP received and disbursed the ₱125 million within 11 days, according to earlier reporting, meaning the point remains contested and will need to be established through the evidentiary record rather than by agreement between the parties. Article I of the four articles of impeachment against Duterte centers on the alleged misuse of confidential funds; the trial is proceeding through the Senate impeachment court with additional articles — including allegations tied to her unexplained wealth and subpoenaed bank, tax and SALN records — still to be litigated in the weeks ahead. ### Sources - [COA witness says VP Sara signed liquidation report for P125-M confidential fund-cash advance](https://mb.com.ph/2026/08/03/coa-witness-says-vp-sara-signed-liquidation-report-for-p125-m-confidential-fund-cash-advance) — Manila Bulletin, Ellson Quismorio - [VP trial Day 11: Ex-COA auditor to testify on confidential funds](https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2275759/vp-trial-day-11-ex-coa-auditor-to-testify-on-confidential-funds) — Inquirer.net - [LIVE UPDATES: Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial (August 3, 2026)](https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/997121/live-updates-sara-duterte-impeachment-trial-august-3-2026/story/) — GMA News Online - [Sara Duterte trial recap, Aug. 3: 'Confidential' furniture purchases, late-dated receipts](https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/08/03/2546717/sara-duterte-trial-recap-aug-3-confidential-furniture-purchases-late-dated-receipts) — Philstar.com, Cristina Chi