by Diego Morra
Largely missed in the ongoing hearings on the impeachment complaints against Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio the undeniable fact that the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) from June 30, 2022 to December 31, 2022 was from the appropriations for OVP under former Vice President Leni Robredo.
Sara’s budget did not have single centavo for confidential fund (CF) or intelligence fund. For this reason, Sara had no right to spend a single centavo for CF. If she did, then she was illegally spending cash without congressional appropriation. Ergo, this CF episode is misappropriation that should warrant criminal prosecution of Sara and her underlings. The Commission on Audit (COA) should call a spade a spade. If Sara did not have any CF, as Robredo never enjoyed such CF for six years, then ipso facto, her CE would immediately be illegal.
COA’s assessment of Sara’s CE should have started with a simple question: Was she authorized to dispatch the funds in accordance with the OVP budget? If there were no provisions for such CE in Robredo’s final budget, then COA should throw the book at Sara, OVP chief accountant Julieta Villadelrey and former OVP security chief Col. Raymund Dante Lachica. No ifs or buts, not even a demand to return the money that was obtained from the Palace for “intelligence” gathering in an office that is a light-year removed from such a function. Since it is practically impossible for Sara to “reimburse” the republic, the option of the state is to seize her assets, not only those contained in her statements of assets and liabilities and net worth (SALNs) or conjugal property with her husband, along with a slew of businesses controlled by their dummies or nominees.
Include as well her many bank accounts that were “mysteriously” opened without her knowledge, which is an impossibility given the strict rules implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the automatic monitoring of withdrawals in excess of P500,000 per day by the BSP and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (ALMC.) For public officials, the law is harsh as it deems as hidden wealth any amount in excess of lawful income. The COA’s final rejection of Sara’s appeal to reverse the disallowances of her CE at OVP should perforce start sequestering her bank accounts and forfeiting her money in favor of the state.
Now, Sara is crying uncle and shouting to the entire world that she was denied due process in clearing the murky issue of the disallowed P73.28 million in CE from Dec. 21, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2022, broken down into`P69.78 million used for “rewards” and P3.5 million for buying tables, chairs, desktop computers and printers. Gloria Camora, who heads the COA officer monitoring the disbursement of CF, said Sara failed to show that the money was well-spent, even if the OVP had nothing to do with “national security,” is not empowered to snoop on the bogus “grooming” of primary school pupils to become New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, or the graft-ridden laptop deals of the Department of Education (DepEd) that have reached the courts.
“The Commission holds that the OVP failed to provide documents evidencing the success of information-gathering and/or surveillance activities,” the COA ruling read. “The submitted Accomplishment Report on the Utilization of Confidential and Intelligence Funds for the period from December 21 to 31, 2022, merely included a list of the CE (confidential expense) and a general statement that the activities were 100 percent implemented without any untoward security-related incident,” it added. Self-serving, indeed, and cannot be assessed as a treatise with probative value written by a fopdoodle.
Libido dominandi is what Sara wants, not sincerity, not honesty, and she can always read from his 433 kodigos to say what she means and declare it forcefully, from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C before ending with as paean to the Almighty, her ideas drifting as she wrestles with her English. Don’t look now, but reading comprehension is not her best suit, even as she promised a golden age of Philippine education if she is given P100-billion. Buti na lang walang kumagat. However, Sara’s disinformation network is pushing on to divert, distract and delude the Filipino people, first by seeking to drill holes on the affidavit of Ramil Madriaga, then by getting statements from former Ombudsman Samuel Martires who insisted that he never received money from an “insignificant” fellow like Madriaga.
The best bagmen are “insignificant” fellows, not those who wear tuxedos and barongs. Then comes the oft-repeated story about Sara being “raped.” It would not divert the attention of many people and instead raise issues about the facticity of the claim. Most rapes happen at home. Incest also occurs when a son finally meets his biological mother and sparks “genetic sexual attraction” or GSA. By frequency count, incestuous rape is the most common. Would Sara want her “rape” case investigated? Iyan ba ay tunay, gaya ng paggahasa kay Connie Francis, o produckto ng artificial intelligence (AI)? Ano ang masasabi ni Malou Tiquia? #