SENIOR Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. yesterday said Vice President Sara Duterte’s performance, trust and approval ratings will continue to plummet if she keeps on evading questions about her alleged misuse of public funds in both the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was still the education secretary.
Gonzales said Duterte’s refusal to exercise accountability befitting her office contributed to the significant drop in her approval and trust ratings in recent surveys.
“People expect public officials to be transparent in the use of government funds. Kaya hindi nakapagtataka na bumabagsak ang kanyang ratings dahil sa kanyang patuloy na pag-iwas sa mga tanong tungkol sa pondong ito (That’s why it’s no longer surprising that her ratings are going down because of her continued refusal to answer questions about these funds),” Gonzales said.
The latest Pulse Asia survey shows Duterte’s ratings going down, with her approval rating falling by nine percentage points from 69 percent in June to 60 percent in September, and her trust rating dropping by 10 percentage points from 71 percent to 61 percent over the same period.
“Hindi natin ikinakagulat ang patuloy na pagbaba ng ratings ni VP Duterte, lalo na’t hindi siya nagbibigay ng paliwanag ukol sa paggamit ng pondo ng OVP at DepEd. Pera ng bayan ang pinag-uusapan dito, kaya’t obligasyon niyang ipaliwanag ang mga kinukuwestiyong hindi tamang paggugol ng pondo (We weren’t surprised with the dip in VP Duterte’s ratings, especially since she isn’t explaining how she used funds in the OVP and DepEd. We’re talking about the people’s money here that why it’s her obligation to explain the funds under question),” Gonzales said.
“At sa pakiwari ko, bababa pa ito. Galit ang tao sa hindi tamang paggasta ng pampublikong pondo, lalong-lalo na’t hindi siya humaharap sa pagdinig ng Kongreso para ipaliwanag ang mga nakitang iregularidad (I think this will continue to go down. The people are angry at the misuse of public funds, especially that she did not face congressional hearings to explain the discovered irregularities),” he added.
The senior House leader cited the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the discrepancies in the handling of confidential funds (CFs) under Duterte’s leadership. In the fourth quarter of 2022, COA disallowed P73 million out of the P125 million CF allocated to the OVP.
For the first three quarters of 2023, the COA also flagged at least P164 million out of the P375 million in CFs disbursed by Duterte’s office, which is the subject of an audit observation memorandum (AOM).
The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua started investigating Duterte’s alleged misuse of public funds after she refused to answer lawmakers’ questions during the budget hearings on the OVP’s P2.037 trillion proposed budget for 2025, which the House later cut down to only P733 million.
Gonzales said there seems to be a pattern in the alleged misuse of public funds, noting that what happened in 2002 was repeated in 2023 since such expenses were also flagged by COA.
He also cited the alleged wastage of public funds in the DepEd under Duterte, particularly the budget for school-based feeding programs and procurement of laptop computers.
COA’s audit report revealed significant lapses in the 2023 DepEd feeding program, uncovering defective food items such as moldy, insect-infested nutribuns, rotting food, and mislabeled packaging, depriving students in Aurora, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental, Iligan, and Quezon City of essential nutrition.
It also flagged the unacceptable delays in the procurement of essential school equipment, further raising concerns about the Vice President’s efficiency and transparency.
Gonzales said the youth were the ones directly affected by the alleged ineptness of the DepEd leadership under Duterte “and these issues cannot be brushed aside because the lives and the future of children are at stake.”
The veteran lawmaker said the issue is not just about the alleged mishandling of funds but also about Duterte’s overall refusal to be held accountable “which continues to damage her public image.”
“Kailangan nating ipakita na walang sinuman ang nakatataas sa batas. Kailangang humarap siya at sagutin ang mga tanong ng publiko, lalo na’t ito ay may kinalaman sa pondo ng bayan (We have to show that no one is above the law. She has to face it and answer the public, especially since it concerns public funds),” he said.
