IGNORING criticisms from members of Congress, the Davao City government further increased its spending of confidential funds in 2023 to P530 million, or P70 million higher than the P460 million it incurred in 2022.
State auditors however said they found nothing irregular in any disbursements made relative to the expense item based on the conditions set under Joint Circular No. 2015-01 issued by the COA, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of the interior and Local Government (DILG), Governance Commission on GOCCs (GCG), and the Department of National Defense (DND).
“The outcomes of our audit pertaining to the confidential funds have revealed compliance in both the disbursement of cash advances and the submission of liquidation reports to the Intelligence and Confidential Fund Audit Office (ICFAO). The disbursement of cash advances was substantiated with comprehensive documentary evidence,” the COA said.
It added that Davao City also observed the deadlines for the submission of liquidation reports to ICFAO within the 30-day time frame at the end of each quarter “underscoring management’s commitment to timely and transparent financial accountability.”
The COA-DBM-DILG-GCC-DND joint circular provides that activities and programs eligible for confidential spending of government agencies must be directly related to their Peace and Order Programs (POP), hence limited to crime prevention and law enforcement activities; capability development for personnel of law enforcement agencies and volunteers; and programs related to illegal drugs, illegal gambling, counter insurgency, smuggling, human trafficking, and against illegal logging, mining, and fishing.
Davao City’s confidential expenses have drawn the scrutiny of lawmakers following questions raised on the disbursement of millions in confidential funds by Vice President Sara Duterte, who served as city mayor from June 2016 to June 2022.
Based on the yearly Financial Statements submitted to the COA, Davao city spent P144 million for confidential activities in 2016, P293 million in 2017, P420 million in 2018, P460 million yearly from 2019 to 2022, and P530 million in 2023.
The 2023 audit report showed the city government’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) amounted to P2.63 billion, or P605 million lower than its P3.234 billion MOOE in 2022.
Confidential expenses accounted for more than 20 percent of the total 2023 MOOE compared to just 14 percent of the 2022 MOOE.
Among the expense items, the biggest decrease was in “Food Supplies Expenses” which dropped from P418.53 million in 2022 to P41.98 million in 2023.
According to COA, the Food Supplies Expenses account is used to record the costs of food issued to hospital/rehabilitation patients, jail inmates and feeding programs.
