THE House Committee on Good Government yesterday cited in contempt and ordered the arrest of four officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) who snubbed yesterday’s hearing even after being subpoenaed by the panel, which is looking into Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of confidential funds in both the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd).
The committee chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua spared Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez, who is in the United States, after she explained in a letter that she had to accompany her ailing aunt while in intensive medical care.
The four who were cited in contempt and ordered arrested are OVP assistant chief of staff and Bids and Awards Committee chair Lemuel Ortonio, special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta, and former DepEd assistant secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda and SDO Edward Fajarda, who transferred to the OVP after Duterte resigned as education secretary last July.
Deputy Speaker David Suarez said Lopez, who flew to the US on the evening of November 4, on the eve of the panel’s hearing last week, will no longer be excused in the next hearing.
“We can accept the letter of Attorney Zuleika Lopez, but only until our next committee hearing, Mr. Chair. I am a reasonable person, but of course there are limits. But if an individual is facing a reason that she cannot avoid for now, maybe she would no longer have any reason why she would not attend the next hearing,” said Suarez, who was also the one who moved to cite the four OVP officials in contempt.
In a press conference at the OVP’s Panay-Negros Island Satellite Office in Bacolod City, the Vice President said three of the four OVP officials who were cited in contempt failed to attend the hearings because of the activities related to the OVP’s 89th anniversary on November 15.
“Marami sa mga personnel na nasa Central Office nagpunta sa satellite offices dahil ang lahat ng satellite offices meron silang thanksgiving, ibat-ibang activities ng thanksgiving (Many of the personnel from the central office went to the satellite office because they have thanksgiving, different activities of thanksgiving),” she said.
NO KNOWLEDGE
Three of the OVP officials earlier subpoenaed by the Chua panel attended the hearing yesterday – OVP Administrative and Financial Services Director Rosalynne Sanchez, chief accountant Julieta Villadelrey, and Budget Division chief Administrative Officer Kelvin Gerome Teñido.
Lawyer Emily Torrentira of the OVP’s legal affairs department was also present, but she was kicked out of the hearing after she refused to take the oath to tell the truth before the committee, the same act that the Vice President did when she faced the panel last September 18.
Villadelrey, Sanchez and Teñido were left to explain the adverse audit findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) in the use of the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd, particularly the P73 million that it disallowed and ordered returned to the government.
The P73 million was part of the P125 million OVP confidential funds which was spent in just 11 days.
The COA has also issued Audit Observation Memorandums (AOM) for the P375 million spent in the first three quarters of 2023 because of alleged irregularities.
The Chua committee is also looking into the P112.5 million in confidential funds allocated in 2023 to DepEd when Duterte was still heading the department.
But while they were present at the hearing, the three OVP officials all testified that they have no personal knowledge of how the P500 million in confidential funds were spent by the OVP.
On the questioning of Suarez, Sanchez, who is a lawyer, explained that confidential funds are exclusively handled by Acosta, being the SDO; Lopez, as the chief of staff; and the Vice President, herself.
“So, the finance officer, the accountant, and the budget planning team – none of you have personal knowledge or involvement with these confidential funds, correct?” Suarez asked to which Sanchez replied: “When it comes to the confidential fund, your honor, it should be the special disbursing officer.”
Sanchez said Acosta reports to Lopez, who, in turn, reports to the Vice President.
“So, in the end, only the SDO, the chief of staff, and the Vice President herself have any knowledge or oversight of these funds, correct?” Suarez also asked, to which Sanchez said, “That is correct, Your Honor.”
Both Acosta and Lopez previously served under Duterte during her tenure as mayor of Davao City, where she also had access to huge amounts of confidential funds which, according to Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, grew from P144 million in 2016, P294 million in 2017, P420 million in 2018, and P460 million annually from 2019 to 2022.
Villadelrey, who has been serving in the OVP since 1990 under then Vice President Salvador Laurel, confirmed that the funds were released in four installments of P125 million each, starting in the fourth quarter of 2022 and continuing through the first three quarters of 2023, totaling P500 million.
While she knew that the funds were allocated under the OVP’s good governance program, Villadelrey said she does not know how it was used.
She also explained to Suarez that she was on leave when the panel sent its initial invitations. “As I mentioned in my (prepared written) statement, I was on leave from Sept. 23 to Oct. 14, and for the second invitation, I was attending to many tasks after my prolonged absence,” she said.
Suarez told Villadelrey: “In your 34 years of service, it shouldn’t have taken a subpoena. A mere invitation should have sufficed.”
Meanwhile, on the questioning of Luistro, Teñido, who has been with the OVP since 2014, confirmed that no confidential funds were allocated to former Vice President Leni Robredo.
“There was no confidential fund during the time of Vice President Leni Robredo,” Teñido said while recalling that there was a series of correspondences related to confidential funds during the time of Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Teñido also told the committee that the OVP requested the Department of Budget and Management in August 2022 for a P250 million confidential fund for its good governance program.
He said the DBM eventually approved a budget of P125 million, from which the P16 million used in only 11 days as payment for safe houses came from.
When asked to shed light on the whopping P16 million spent for the rentals of safe houses, Sanchez said she “does not have information on the specific details and items to be spent under the confidential fund.”
She admitted that the OVP under Duterte may have altered the menu for the good governance program to include the rentals of safe houses, explaining that the budget request of the OVP in 2022 only mentioned “a general term, which is the good governance program.”
This prompted Luistro to say that: “What is clear [here is that] the program Good Governance under Vice President Duterte, some may include confidential fund and maintenance of safe houses, items which were never seen and which were never included in the program of Vice President Robredo.”
‘DOING A SARA’
Torrentira, despite not being invited, attended the hearing but refused to take an oath to tell the truth, which irked congressmen who later expelled her from the hearing.
“So, you are here to represent the institution. You should, before talking, you should take your oath. Because that is on record. You’re a lawyer, you know that, you cannot speak unless, until you take your oath. That’s the rule, internal rules of this House and of this committee,” Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano (PL, Abang Lingkod) told Torrentira.
Torrentira however said she was not refusing to take the oath, saying she was trying to explain “that I am not an invited resource person.”
She said she was there because she was only asked to explain why there was no receipt of subpoena for the OVP resource persons who were not present in the hearing.
Torrentira said under the rules of the committee and the Rules of Court, “personal service must be made to resource persons who are being issued subpoena.”
“They being not present in the office at that time, no person can receive on their behalf, and hence, there will be no proper service,” she said.
Suarez asked if Torrentira was given authority to represent the OVP, but the committee secretariat said Torrentira did not present a letter of authorization, which prompted Paduano to move for her dismissal from the hearing.
“First and foremost, since the good lawyer has no written authority coming from the Vice President, second, she never took her oath, so Mr. Chairman first I move that we strike out from record all the statement being made by the good attorney. I move that we excuse the good lady, attorney, from this room, and request the OSAA (Office of Sergeant-at-Arms) to escort the good attorney outside of this room,” he said.
‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’
In the press conference, Duterte accused Speaker Martin Romualdez and First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos of being behind the alleged attacks against her and the OVP.
“It’s politically motivated dahil ‘di ko alam kung ano ang ikinagalit ni Liza Marcos sa akin. Sabi niya ‘yung tumawa ako pagsabi ni FPRRD na bangag si President (I don’t know what Liza Marcos’ grudge against me is. She said it was because I laughed when former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said President Marcos Jr. was high on drugs). Si Martin alam ko (I know that Martin) he really wants to run for president,” she said.
The Vice President also said Romualdez would continue pushing for Charter change to become prime minister if he fails to win the presidency.
“He can’t make it through a popular vote, he will just do the Charter change and run as prime minister,” she said of the Speaker, who was her campaign manager in the 2022 national elections.
