Manila, Aug. 4 -- Senior officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte asked state auditors to issue a less formal "audit query" instead of an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) over deficiencies in the agencies' confidential fund submissions, a Commission on Audit (COA) witness testified Tuesday.

The audit covered PHP612.5 million in confidential funds, including PHP500 million released to the OVP and PHP112.5 million to the DepEd.

COA auditor Roderick Wamil, formerly assigned to the COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO), said the request was raised during a meeting in the second week of September 2023.

Wamil recalled that the mee...