In a bid to smear the integrity of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), a Facebook (FB) page supporting presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. used a news report on deficiencies flagged in the funds of the state auditing agency and misleadingly attributed it to the OVP.
In its Feb. 12 post, FB page Coach Jarret questioned in the caption what an “honest government” (gobyernong tapat)—Vice President Leni Robredo’s campaign promise—looks like under her party. It then attached screenshots of news reports that supposedly show anomalies in the OVP’s management of its funds.
One of the screenshots was of a CNN Philippines article with the headline “COA (Commission on Audit) also flagged over ₱12.3-M unliquidated cash advances” published in August 2021.
But going through the entire article shows this was about state auditors questioning their colleagues at the COA—not the OVP—in 2020 over unliquidated cash advances for foreign and local travel amounting to P12.39 million. It likewise flagged the grant of P13.62 million in cash advances to COA officers and employees despite not liquidating previous advances.
The two other screenshots of news articles correctly pertained to the OVP.
One was a June 2019 Politiko report about COA flagging unliquidated funds of the OVP in 2018 for having “no clear-cut procedure” in selecting the local government units (LGUs) that will benefit from its Angat Buhay program.
In a response published on Facebook, the OVP said it “continues to remind the LGU recipients of their obligations” to submit the required documents. It also clarified that LGU beneficiaries were selected based on “their localities’ needs or their record of good governance.”
The other screenshot was a September 2020 Inquirer.net article on the OVP’s slow utilization of medical assistance funds worth P195.09 million in 2019.
Replying to COA, the OVP explained the non-utilization of funds. It cited, among others, the suspension of grant distribution due to the 2019 midterm polls, the changes in the application requirements, guidelines, and frequency of the grant, plus its access is limited only to residents of Metro Manila and surrounding areas.
Despite these flags, the OVP consistently made headlines for receiving the highest audit rating from COA in 2018, 2019, and 2020. State auditors gave Robredo’s office an “unqualified opinion” in all three years for “the fairness of presentation of [the OVP’s] financial statements.”
The misleading post carried seven hashtags promoting the candidacy of Marcos and his vice presidential running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
It surfaced four days after the Feb 8. proclamation rally of Robredo where she said that the essence of her fight is “in honesty,” saying “a leader, most especially the president, should always tell the truth.”
Coach Jarret’s post has 2,400 reactions, 271 comments, and 951 shares. The page was created on May 22, 2019.
In September 2020, VERA Files Fact Check debunked a similar claim which alleged the COA is “filing charges” against the OVP over idle funds. (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Report on COA ‘suing’ OVP for unutilized funds bears FALSE HEADLINE)
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