P200,000 per CCTV and more: A look at OVP's new equipment in last 2 years

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December 2, 2025 | 10:34am

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte's office acquired seven CCTV units in 2024 at an average of P212,464 each, according to financial records released by state auditors on Monday, December 1.

The Commission on Audit's annual report for the OVP also listed the acquisition of 13 units of "laptops" valued at P3.92 million, or roughly P301,230 each. 

But the OVP told Philstar.com the entry for the "laptops" was a clerical error, and that the total actually pertains to 12 donated photocopiers valued at P3.82 million and one desktop computer for video editing valued at P92,000.  

COA's report, released Monday, detailed P76.11 million in property, plant and equipment (PPE) acquisitions by Vice President Sara Duterte's office across 2024 and 2023, including vehicles, cameras, computer equipment and other assets. They are specifically referred to as "acquisitions" because the equipment can either be purchased or donated.    

State auditors found Duterte's office did not follow government accounting rules in recording the donated photocopiers, overstating its accounts by P1.21 million — part of a broader audit that also identified lapses in financial controls across the OVP's welfare programs. 

Pricing

COA did not flag OVP for any of its acquisitions in 2023 and 2024, aside from the accounting error in the donated photocopiers. 

Philstar.com is providing a breakdown of the OVP's acquired property and equipment, and how much each item costs based on the listed total cost. 

P200,000 per CCTV unit. The seven "units of CCTV," according to the audit document, totalled P1.484 million, making each over P212,464.

These were among P36.85 million in equipment acquisitions by Duterte's office in 2024, according to the audit document.

Comparable or high-end security camera packages in the market, based on an online search of CCTV systems for offices, show that those with advanced features typically retail for P15,000 to P17,000 per unit from leading brands, while complete eight-camera packages are priced at around P21,000 to P22,000.

The OVP said the purchase of these CCTV systems was done through the proper mode of procurement and that COA did not flag them for this acquisition.

"Those are CCTV systems for Satellite, Extension Offices, Libreng Sakay buses per recommendation of Security Team and part of safeguarding of assets as required by COA. All went through the proper modes of procurement, and there were no COA findings," the OVP told Philstar.com.

P120,842 per MacBook Air laptop. The office acquired two units of Apple MacBook Air in 2024 valued at P241,685 total, or P120,842 each. 

In terms of pricing, the MacBook Air M2 base model (8GB RAM, 256GB storage) retailed between P42,200 and P59,700 from known authorized resellers in 2024. Higher-specification models with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage retailed for approximately P95,000 to P102,000 when launched in 2022. 

The price can go higher than P120,000, based on the Apple Philippines website, if it includes the highest SSD storage possible and additional software.

P73,505 per aircon unit. Four aircon units were acquired in 2024 for P294,020 total, or P73,505 each.  

P1 million per multi-purpose vehicle. In 2023, the office acquired 10 units of multi-purpose vehicles valued at P10.284 million, or P1,028,400 per unit.  

Photocopier accounting error

The photocopiers, according to the OVP, were mistakenly listed as laptops. They have been leased by the office since 2021 and were donated when the contract expired. They are being used across different offices and divisions in the OVP Central Office. 

"There was an oversight in the description," a representative of Duterte's office told Philstar.com. "The detailed transactions, journal vouchers were submitted to COA as well, but OVP staff made an error in the summary provided to COA."

State auditors said the office recorded the donated photocopy machines at the unnamed donor's estimated value of P3.824 million instead of their book value of P2.613 million at the date of donation, contrary to the Government Accounting Manual for national government agencies.

The OVP said COA recommended that the office record the adjustment in 2025 since the 2024 accounting books had been finalized. 

COA in its report also recommended the OVP revisit its guidelines on donations to include determining equipment values in coordination with donors and ensuring donated items are properly measured going forward.

Programs COA flagged

Beyond the accounting issues, COA identified deficiencies in the OVP's Mag-Negosyo Ta Day livelihood program. The office approved financial assistance to 138 beneficiaries — 128 individuals and 10 non-governmental organizations — without assessing the feasibility and viability of their proposed projects, auditors found. This violated the program's manual of operations.

The OVP, according to state auditors, also failed to liquidate P2.115 million in financial assistance on time, with delays ranging from two to 154 days for 31 individuals and 11 NGOs. Of 83 beneficiaries sampled, only 11 received the required monitoring visits within three months of receiving funds, while the remaining 72 were visited either before or after the prescribed period, or not at all.

COA recommended that the office ensure project proposals are properly evaluated, monitoring visits are conducted as required and quarterly monitoring reports are prepared.

— with reports by Rosette Adel and Camille Diola