Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio must have beaten the world record in the 100-meter dash when she sprinted to spend all of P125-million in what her office called Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) in the final days of 2022. Yet, the money came from the Contingent Fund (CF) of the Office of the President (OP) for which she must be held accountable.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent P1-million for a “safehouse” in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) where they stay from Dec. 28 to Dec. 31, meaning the rent was P250,000 per 24 hours. She also splurged P8.75 million on other “safehouse” rentals for three days starting on Dec. 27, which is even worse, since it cost Juan de la Cruz P2.91 million per day. These must be luxurious safehouses, unrecognizable from what real safehouses must be—secure premises, with spartan working space and must not invite unwanted attention. Safehouses should never be located in BGC, where people are a dime a dozen and traffic is heavy with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Maseratis. They rented castles, not the safehouses used to harbor spooks, informants and suspected criminals.
Why stay in BGC? Sara’s contingent would invite all the attention in the very ritzy “safehouses” they rented. These “safehouses” must have crawled with Sara’s informants as well since the rewards in the form of cash, “other products” and medicines were doled out to her spooks, along with computers, laptops, tablets and other equipment. Why the big rush? The entire P125-million budget had to be disbursed before the dawn of 2023 and 11 days are an eternity to spread the blessings.
The huge amount wasted by Sara in those 11 days was considered by the OVP as part of her CIF but for the Commission on Audit (COA), the money released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) came from the CF of the OP per order of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. Thus, Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio is accountable. If the OVP thought it could spend the money like hell, they are grievously wrong, and now COA demands that P73 million of the sum be returned. No law authorized Sara to have a CIF that year. She was still operating on the budget of former Vice President Leni Robredo who had zero CIF from 2016 to 2022. The 34 acknowledgment receipts submitted to the COA covered 34 safehouses but the official receipts from the owners of the luxurious safehouses are a different animal.
“Didn’t you wonder why it was so expensive, P1 million in just four days? What kind of safe house is this? Does this safe house have a swimming pool, does it have WiFi in BGC?” House Committee on Good Government chairman Joel Chua asked lawyer Gloria Camora from COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) confirmed that the OVP made a P16 million payment, as evidenced by 34 acknowledgment receipts it submitted for the period from Dec. 21 to 31. Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, a retired police officer, noted that one of the receipts documented a P500,000 payment for a safehouse. Camora said it would amount to P45,454.55 per day.
“Is that regular, the same amount but different number of days?” Manila 1st District Rep. Ernesto Dionisio Jr. asked COA. “That’s slightly steep, especially in 2022 since the fund was exhausted in 11 days,” Camora replied. She added that P16 million for safehouse rentals was allocated in the first three quarters of 2023. OVP used the allocation for 53 days for the first quarter of 2023, 67 days for the second quarter of 2023 and 79 days for the third quarter of 2023. The OVP never bothered to explain the huge safehouse rentals and dismissed the Lower House investigation as not intended to aid legislation.
In a position paper, the OVP argued that the hearing was “unnecessary” as it “lacks a clear legislative objective or any contemplated legislation that could result from the deliberations.” Princess Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio, an alumna of Davao City’s San Pedro College and one-time employee at the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), was not prepared to answer when asked about her profligacy. The COA documents are not deniable since they came from the OVP. Once submitted to the agency, they become public records, not private documents. Congress is tasked with crafting the national budget yearly. Sara is not authorized to spend it as if there’s no tomorrow.
It is useless now for Shiminet Pusit to cry political persecution since Fiona herself called attention to her financial mismanagement and her incompetence as she dished out “rewards” during the year when she had no CIF to distribute. With Sara’s gothic behavior, the Senate, principally Sen. Joel Villanueva, should not howl in protest over the budget slash for the OVP. Sara Zimmerman dared the Lower House to cut it down to P1 and bragged that her office would survive. Now that the House did it graciously to abide by her wish, she has no reason to grouse. Be careful what you wish for. Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. (Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.)
