MANILA — Sen. Robin Padilla on Wednesday questioned state auditor Roderick Wamil on his familiarity with terrorism and with security threats as he stressed the importance of confidential funds to address these issues.
Wamil, previously assigned to the Commission on Audit-Internal Control and Fraud Audit Office, was testifying at the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on audit findings on her offices' use of confidential funds.
Padilla asked Wamil if he had been to parts of the country like the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Bicol region, and to Mindanao.
Padilla also asked Wamil if he had visited remote communities and seen the challenges faced by residents there, including access to food and medicine.
Wamil said he had been to mountainous areas but did not witness the conditions described by the senator.
“Ayun, hindi kayo exposed," Padilla said.
(Oh there, you are not exposed to that.)
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ARMED GROUPS
Padilla then shifted his questions to national security as he asked if Wamil was familiar with armed groups ISIS, Abu Sayyaf and the New People's Army.
"Sa news po, nababalitaan ko," the auditor said.
(I heard about them in the news.)
“Alam niyo po ba kung gaano na kagrabe ang terrorism sa bansa?” Padilla asked.
(Do you know how severe terrorism is in the country?)
Wamil, an accountant and lawyer, responded he has "no threshold" to determine that
Padilla said he asked because he heard that Wamil is in charge of investigating the use of confidential funds.
Auditor says 'first time' to encounter confidential expenses backed only by acknowledgement receipts
Wamil clarified that COA's role is to see if government agencies complied with rules on accounting for confidential fund expenditures..
"Hindi po siya investigation, evaluation siya," Wamil said.
(It is not an investigation but an evaluation.)
Padilla also pressed Wamil on the audit observations that he had raised.
"Konklusyon po ba yun (Is that a conclusion)? Final? Final?" Padilla said as Wamil explained that the Audit Observation Memorandum he wrote on OVP spending was part of a preliminary stage of a COA audit.
PADILLA LINKS CHECKS TO 'RED' ANNIVERSARIES
In later questions, Padilla said that the dates of some confidential expenses that COA had flagged were close to the founding anniversaries of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army and the National Democratic Front.
He also said that "for the first time", there were no NPA attacks on those dates.
Wamil said he has no personal knowledge on the supposed significance of the dates.
"Ang tanong ko po, naniniwala po ba kayo na malaki ang papel ng confidential fund at confidential agent?" Padilla asked.
(My question is, do you believe that confidential funds and confidential agents have an important role?)
"Depende po 'yan sa ano po talaga 'yung mandate ng agency," Wamil replied.
(That depends on the what the mandate of the agency is.)