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FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
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ABOUT WHAT COA’S REJECTION OF THE OVP APPEAL MEANS
COA has rejected the request to reconsider the ₱73.287-million disallowance involving the Office of the Vice President’s December 2022 confidential expenses. The October 5 resolution became public on October 7. Its significance is easier to understand when the amount, the audit finding and the available legal remedies are kept separate.
1
This is a new ruling on an existing disallowance
Decision No. 2026-554 denies the motion for reconsideration filed by Sara Duterte, special disbursing officer Gina Acosta and chief accountant Julieta Villadelrey. It leaves standing COA’s April 10, 2026 decision, which had upheld the notice of disallowance issued on August 8, 2024.
WHAT TO WATCH
The spending period identified in the resolution is December 21–31, 2022. The development today is the rejection of reconsideration, not the first discovery of the disputed expenses. That distinction matters when reading claims that the entire audit case began this week.
2
The amount is ₱73.287 million, not the entire ₱125 million
The disallowance covers ₱69.787 million recorded as rewards and ₱3.5 million for office furniture and equipment. Together, they total ₱73.287 million. The rewards component includes cash, goods and medicines.
WHAT TO WATCH
The OVP received a ₱125-million confidential-fund allocation that December, but this particular disallowance does not declare all ₱125 million disallowed. Later spending periods and the wider amounts raised in the impeachment case must also be kept separate. Combining them without explaining their scope makes the audit finding harder to understand.
3
COA found that the supporting records did not justify the spending
Reporting on the resolution says COA found the reward payments inadequately supported and distinguished regular work by salaried security personnel from qualifying information supplied by outside informers. Acknowledgment receipts alone did not meet the required proof. The equipment expenses also remained disallowed.
WHAT TO WATCH
COA’s rejection leaves the audit liability of Duterte, Acosta and Villadelrey standing. An audit disallowance concerns whether public spending was lawful and adequately supported, and who must answer for it. It should not be rewritten as a finding that every peso was stolen or as a criminal conviction for a named offense.
4
“With finality” does not erase Supreme Court review
COA has disposed of the reconsideration request. Its rules ordinarily allow only one motion for reconsideration. A challenge to a COA decision can still be brought to the Supreme Court through the appropriate petition under Rule 64 in relation to Rule 65, subject to the procedural requirements.
WHAT TO WATCH
Filing that petition does not automatically stop execution. Rule 64 and COA’s amended procedural rules require an order from the Supreme Court for a stay. On October 7, the OVP said it had not yet received the resolution and was preparing legal and institutional remedies. Announcing a challenge does not mean it has been filed or that a restraining order has been granted.
5
It matters to impeachment, but it does not decide impeachment
The audit findings are part of the confidential-funds dispute already examined in the Senate trial. The rejection of reconsideration leaves standing the audit decision that the parties must address. It does not itself remove the vice president or direct the senator-judges how to vote.
WHAT TO WATCH
Under the Constitution, the Senate tries impeachment cases. Criminal prosecution is a separate process. Readers should therefore look for the precise decision in each forum: what COA disallowed, what a reviewing court orders, and what the Senate ultimately decides on the charge before it.
BOTTOM LINE
A serious audit finding deserves accurate treatment without turning it into a judgment that another institution has not made.
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