Senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte expressed deep frustration on Wednesday, Aug. 5, over the Commission on Audit’s (COA) failure to go beyond the liquidation documents it reviewed regarding the alleged misused multimillion-peso confidential funds. Roderick Wamil, a former state auditor of the COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Unit (Icfau),...
Category: News
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Duterte execs sought COA ‘query’ on secret funds instead of memo, says witness
Vice President Sara Duterte’s camp had tried to persuade the Commission on Audit (COA) not to issue an audit observation memorandum (AOM) during its review of multimillion-peso confidential funds spent by her office and the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2023, according to state auditor Roderick Wamil. Rather than an AOM, Roderick Wamil told the...
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Duterte’s office failed to back ₱125M in secret funds, says state auditor
Vice President Sara Duterte’s office failed to submit the required documents to the Commission on Audit (COA) on its use of ₱125 million in confidential funds, which was spent in 11 days in 2022, a COA auditor told the Senate impeachment trial on Monday, Aug. 3. It even spent ₱50 million, which was not allowed...
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Ex-bank managers say large OVP, DepEd cash withdrawals ‘unusual’
Two former LandBank branch managers found “unusual” the million-peso cash withdrawals by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) between 2022 and 2023 because of the large amounts involved. They said it was the first time they had ever seen these transactions in their banking careers. One of them, Violeta...
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A year after the flood control Sona: Probes, protests, and the President’s possible culpability
One year after President Marcos shamed officials and contractors who, he said, stole from government-funded flood control projects, the nation has yet to come to grips with the scale of the thievery and who, at the highest levels of power, were responsible. The amounts involved are staggering. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who led the Senate’s probe...
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Peace coalition urges Marcos to reaffirm support for Bangsamoro peace process in Sona
The recently formed Multisectoral Peace Coalition urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to reaffirm his administration’s commitment to the Bangsamoro peace process in his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 27. It said such a statement from the President would send a strong signal that the Bangsamoro peace process remains a national priority...
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NBI: ‘Less than 20 persons of interest’ in VP kill plot vs Marcos
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now investigating “less than 20 persons of interest” in its search for the individual that Vice President Sara Duterte allegedly ordered to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez if she ends up dead. One of them is a member...
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Police try to arrest veteran photojournalist in anti-US rally
Police attempted to arrest veteran photojournalist Alberto “Bullit” Marquez as he was covering a rally on Wednesday, July 22, in Pasay City against alleged US aggression in the Middle East and the Washington-initiated “Pax Silica” project to set up an expansive AI and semiconductor hub in the Philippines. Marquez was trying to take pictures of...
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NBI has ‘persons of interest’ in VP kill plot vs Marcos
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has established “leads” and identified “persons of interest” whom Vice President Sara Duterte might have spoken to in her threat to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez, its director told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday. But NBI Director Melvin Matibag...
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Impeachment court grants subpoena of Duterte bank, tax records
House prosecutors scored a victory on Monday after the Senate impeachment court approved their request to subpoena the tax and bank records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, as part of their evidence in her ongoing trial. Also ordered to be presented were her records at the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)....