House leadership urged: Stop singling Sara out

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A STAUNCH ally of Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday questioned the investigation of the House Committee on Good Government into Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds, saying the second highest official of the country appears to be singled out.

Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (PL, Sagip) said other agencies should be investigated, too, if the House leadership is seriously bent on going after those misusing government funds.

“I am not in favor of that (singling out Duterte) because the public would think that the probe is just being done out of politicking, that we (in Congress) are taking it personal,” he told reporters.

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Marcoleta is a member of the religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) which held a huge peace rally last Monday attended by more than P1.8 million people, which critics said was obviously meant to deter moves to impeach the Vice President.

“Kapag isa lang ang tinarget mo at alam naman natin na ang tinarget mo ay kalaban sa politika, sapagkat iyong presidential election (ay) nandiyan na sa horizon, mag-iisip ang taong bayan na politika lang ito (When you target just one person and we all know that the one you are targeting is a political rival because the presidential election is in the horizon, the people will think this is just politics),” he said.

Marcoleta also raised the possibility that the House, by setting its sights on the Vice President’s use of confidential funds, maybe “usurping the very authority and mandate of the Commission on Audit (COA).”

Duterte is so far facing three impeachment complaints, all anchored on her alleged misuse of confidential funds in both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she led as secretary until June last year.

The first impeachment complaint was filed on December 2 by civil society and religious organizations led by the Akbayan party-list group and endorsed by Rep. Percival Cendaña. It accuses the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.

The second complaint was filed just two days later by 72 individuals led by Bayan, which cited only one ground — betrayal of public trust, while the third complaint was filed on December 19 by religious groups and lawyers who also accused Duterte of willfully misusing public funds by fabricating the recipients of a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds disbursed by the OVP and the DepEd.

The latest complaint, which was endorsed by Reps. Gabriel Bordado Jr. of Camarines Sur and Lex Colada (PL, AAMBIS-OWA), who are both members of the House minority bloc, accused the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.

Meanwhile, the OVP announced yesterday that it will no longer be able to give out medical and burial assistance after Congress removed such line items in the OVP’s P733.1 billon budget for 2025.

“There is no approved budget for the Medical and Burial Assistance Program of the Office of the Vice President under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). We apologize for the inconvenience,” the OVP said in a statement.

The OVP cited page 24 of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which showed that there was no line item for “Financial Assistance/Subsidy,” which covers the OVP’s medical and burial assistance.

“Since there’s no line item under 2025 General Appropriations Act for Financial Assistance/Subsidy, the Office of the Vice President has no fund to implement the medical and burial assistance program,” it added.

Lawmakers had removed the OVP’s budget for medical and burial assistance, saying it was a “duplication” of the programs of national agencies, especially the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The OVP said its medical and burial assistance program reached 187,028 beneficiaries from January to December 2024, which totaled to P822,326,188.02.

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