Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio gestures during a press briefing at the Cybergate building in Mandaluyong City on September 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Commission on Audit’s (COA) unmodified opinion on the fairness of presentation of the Office of the Vice President’s financial statements for 2023 should not distract the House committee’s probe into the office's confidential expenses. 

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House Assistant Majority Leader and TINGOG Party List Representative Jude Acidre said that the audit of regular fund utilization is separate from the audit of confidential fund utilization.

“Ang paraan ng pag-audit ng confidential funds ay hiwalay sa pag-audit ng regular funds ng ilang ahensiya. Hindi ko naman binabalewala ‘yung opinion ng COA, pero sinabi na rin ng COA sa atin na in the process of auditing, katulad noong 2022 din, sinabi rin nila na unqualified, pero doon lumabas din ang mga problemadong mga acknowledgment receipts… The fact that there is a COA opinion and there is a notice of disallowance tells us something, na mayroon pang mga katanungan,” Acidre said.

"I don’t think it should distract Congress, if ever we will have to deliberate on the impeachment petition... So it does not preempt, it does not preclude, even the impeachment court or the pre-impeachment proceedings to look into these issues further,” he added.

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According to the COA, an unmodified opinion is an opinion issued when the auditor concludes that the financial statements are prepared, in all material aspects, in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.

However, it does not necessarily mean that there were no misstatements found during the audit nor were there no uncorrected misstatements as at year-end.  

“Pwede namang unqualified, unmodified, pero mayroon pa lang nakaligtaan, o pwede pa lang na-fabricate. At that time, tinanggap si Mary Grace Piattos kasi walang nagtatanong. Noong nalaman natin at ngayon sinabi ng PSA na walang Mary Grace Piattos, papabayaan na lang ba nating ganoon? Na gawa-gawa ‘yung mga isinumite sa COA?” Acidre noted.

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The COA also stated that audit opinion should not be viewed as a rating, score or grade, with ranking of lowest to highest.

Rather, an audit opinion pertains only to the financial audit conducted regularly by COA auditors on the agencies within its jurisdiction.