A FORMER education undersecretary yesterday alleged that she was pressured to resign after she questioned the procurement process for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) computerization program when Vice President Sara Duterte was still education secretary.

Gloria Jumamil Mercado, who served as the DepEd’s undersecretary for human resources and organization and development (HR), also told the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability that she received nine envelopes containing a total of P450,000 between February 2023 to September 2023 supposedly from Duterte because of her position as the head of the DepEd’s Procuring Entity (HoPE).

The Vice President, whose use of public funds in the OVP and the DepEd, is being investigated after she refused to answer questions hounding her office’s use of confidential funds, skipped the panel’s hearing yesterday, telling lawmakers in a letter that the investigation is “unnecessary.”

The 65-year-old Mercado, who has already retired from government service, told lawmakers that Duterte’s chief-of-staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez demanded her resignation sometime in the third or fourth quarter of October last year after she questioned the proposal of then education assistant secretary and former Duterte spokesman Reynold Munsayac on how the bidding process for the DepEd’s computerization program should be implemented since it was on its way to a bidding failure.

“Sometime in October 2023, as the likelihood of a bidding failure for the DepEd Computerization Program became apparent, I was approached by Atty. Reynold Munsayac. He suggested, in the presence of three other DepEd officials who I was with, that the bidders should discuss among themselves. ‘Mag-usap usap na lang, para hindi masayang ang 2022 budget (Just discuss it among ourselves so that the 2022 budget will not be wasted),’ according to Atty. Munsayac. I firmly asserted that the procurement must be implemented and conducted in strict adherence with the rules,” she said

Mercado said she was subsequently summoned by Lopez who demanded her resignation. “I was informed that I should tender my resignation effective that day. I refused to resign and insisted on departing from the service through voluntary retirement.”

“The timing of my meeting with Ms. Zuleika struck me as more than coincidental, it gave me the impression that my candid response to Atty. Munsayac’s suggestion was the real reason behind the push to relieve me of my office. It was as if l had become an unwelcome obstacle in the procurement process, despite simply doing my job as the HoPE and undersecretary for Human Resources of DepEd,” she said.

During the budget hearings, lawmakers cited the issues raised in the 2023 Commission on Audit (COA) report, particularly on the DepEd’s Computerization Program (DCP), including the department’s failure to deliver almost P9 billion worth of laptops.

COA has flagged the DepEd for low fund utilization in several projects that hampered its objective to upgrade education in the public school system.

Among these projects were the P5.1 billion Learning Tools and Equipment for Science and Math Equipment (SME) and Technical Vocational Livelihood (TVL) Equipment; the P20.547 billion DepEd Computerization Program (DCP); and the P1.408 billion Last Mile Schools Program (LMSP).

Mercado also said that between February 2023 to September 2023, she received a total of nine envelopes, each containing P50,000, from Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda.

She quoted Fajarda, who is a lawyer, as saying that the envelopes “came directly from the office of Vice President Sara Duterte. ‘Galing kay VP (From VP),’ is what she would typically say as she hands the envelopes,” Mercado said.

“It would appear that I received these envelopes by virtue of my office as HoPE. Atty. Sunshine Fajarda is the wife of Edward D. Fajarda who is the Special Disbursement Officer,” she also said.

Mercado, who spent the last four decades of her life in government service, told the panel chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua, that she never opened the envelopes to confirm their contents. However, each envelope was marked with the amount.

She repeatedly said during the lawmakers’ interpellation that she was uncomfortable with receiving the envelopes from the Vice President and then DepEd chief.

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro asked Mercado if she felt that the envelopes contained bribe money, but she refused to confirm it, saying, “It’s kind of a harsh word to use, bribe.”

“You did not open the envelope because you felt so uncomfortable, do you confirm?” Luistro said. “And the reason, Ma’am, is because you believe that that envelope is a bribe? Do you agree with me, because otherwise, you will not appreciate the job as difficult, you will not [feel] uncomfortable opening what you believe is an allowance.”

When Luistro rephrased her question and asked her if the envelopes were meant to “influence” her position as procurement head, Mercado answered, “It could be.”

In a hastily called press conference in Mandaluyong City, Duterte dared Mercado to present solid proof of the alleged bribery attempt, saying her accuser is just a “disgruntled” former DepEd employee.

“Dapat siguro kung mag-akusa siya ng ganiyan may papel siya (She should present documents when making such allegations),” she said. “Gloria Mercado is a disgruntled former employee of the DepEd. She was let go because of loss of trust and confidence sa office of the Secretary. Hindi lang siguro niya matanggap na kasalanan niya bakit siya pinalayas sa DepEd (She probably just can’t accept that it’s her fault why she was kicked out of DepEd).”

Mercado presented to the committee the envelopes which she kept in her cabinet, saying she donated the money to charity. She also vowed to show lawmakers a receipt to prove the donation she made to a non-government organization (NGO).

The Vice President said she let Mercado go because she allegedly sent an unauthorized solicitation letter to a company in 2023 to ask for P16 million on behalf of the DepEd to cover transportation, power source, web hosting and other technical requirements for the DepEd’s General User Response Optimization (DepEd-GURO) program as shown by a letter Mercado signed in August 2023.

Mercado, during the hearing, denied that she solicited such a huge amount from a private company, saying the donations were made “in kind.” She also vowed to present documents to the panel.

Duterte said Mercado also appointed a teacher from Central Visayas to be her executive assistant, a non-teaching position in the DepEd’s headquarters, which the Vice President said was irregular.

“Hindi ko na pinalampas (I didn’t let it pass). Sinabihan na siya (she was told) na there is loss of trust and confidence and you should go,” she said. “Sabi niya, ‘Puwede ba mag-retire na lang ako kasi ang tagal ko na, matanda na ako’ (She said, ‘Can I just retire because I’ve been here for too long and I’m old?’) Then sinabihan siya (she was told), ‘Okay,’” she said.

In her letter to the committee, Duterte reiterated her call “to terminate this inquiry immediately,” saying the Constitution mandates that the “inquiry must only be in relation to legislation and should ideally have a proposed bill to guide the discussions therein.”

“Inquiries should not be adversarial nor prosecutorial and should recognize the right of persons to refuse to participate in the crafting of laws. The (House of Representatives) cannot compel people to participate in the legislative process and such right is protected by the Constitution,” the Vice President said.

She said the inquiry is based on “unsubstantiated allegations” by Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano, which were made in a privilege speech, which she said only cited the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budget of the OVP in Metro Manila.

“In fact, the invitation of the Committee itself lacks any clear legislative objective or contemplated legislation that is expected as an outcome of the deliberations,” she said

Duterte said questions about the OVP’s alleged misuse of confidential funds have already reached the Supreme Court and the OVP is already addressing the issues and cooperating and with the COA in accordance with its Rules of Procedure.

The Chua panel, which is the House counterpart of the Senate’s Blue Ribbon committee, issued show-cause orders to five OVP officials who, like their boss, also skipped the hearing.

The officials named in the order include Lopez; Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio, assistant chief of staff; Rosalynne Sanchez, director of administrative and financial Services; special disbursing officer Gina Acosta and chief accountant Julieta Villadelrey.

Chua warned the OVP officials that should they fail to provide a satisfactory explanation or if the committee deems their response insufficient, they will face a contempt order, potentially leading to their arrest and detention.

Although the panel had invited 17 OVP officials, only OVP spokesperson Michael Poa, appointed on Aug. 19, was present. However, Poa informed the committee that he was not authorized by the Vice President to speak on behalf of the OVP during the proceedings.

Chua said the amount of the funds being scrutinized by the panel surpasses the country’s threshold under its plunder laws.

“I must stress at this point that the sheer vastness of these potentially misused funds sets this matter apart from other instances of irregularity and disallowance – these amounts easily surpass the threshold for the crime of plunder under our laws,” Chua said in his opening remarks.

“It is incumbent upon us, who are duty bound to ensure that our legislation and regulations are effective enough to protect the money of the people, to investigate and get to the bottom of these glaring irregularities,” he added.

The panel is particularly focused on the P125 million confidential fund allocated to the OVP that was spent in just 11 days in 2022. COA has disallowed P73 million of the P125 million, a staggering 60 percent of the confidential funds allocated for the OVP in 2022.

Chua pointed out that the documents submitted by the OVP to the COA lacked detailed breakdowns and appeared to have been hastily prepared.

“Paulit-ulit po at parang kinopy-paste ang liquidation ng Confidential Funds ng OVP (It was repeatedly done and it seems the liquidated of confidential funds of the OVP was just copy-pasted),” he said.

Chua said the OVP’s P500 million CF for 2023 is also being reviewed, with only P51 million having been cleared by COA so far.