Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday said Vice President Sara Duterte should stop passing the buck to her subordinates and personally explain to lawmakers the disbursement of the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure.
Romualdez said the Vice President seems to be the only one who can explain how the confidential funds were spent, noting the statements of OVP and DepEd officials made before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.
“E ‘di dapat lang siyang sumipot at mag-oath at mag-salita at mag-eksplika dahil lahat ng mga opisyales niya… siya lang yata may alam kung anong nangyari diyan sa mga pondo e kaya dapat siya ang mag-eksplika, (She has to attend, take an oath and explain [the spending of confidential funds] because all her officials… she’s the only one who knows what happened to the funds so she needs to explain),” Romualdez told reporters in Albay.
The Speaker said Duterte should not burden her subordinates by passing to them the responsibility of explaining how the funds were used.
“’Huwag na niyang ibigay sa mga officials niya sa OVP at sa DepEd. Sana lang magsalita siya (She shouldn’t pass it to her officials at the OVP and DepEd. We’re hoping she speaks),” he said.
Romualdez made the statement after OVP officials, including Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez, told lawmakers they were not privy to the disbursement of the hundreds of millions of OVP and DepEd confidential funds as these were personally handled by the Vice President herself.
The House committee is looking into the possible misuse by the OVP and the DepEd, when Duterte was still its secretary, of its confidential funds in 2022 and 2023.
In particular, they want to find out how the Vice President spent the P73 million disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA). The P73 million was part of the P125 million confidential funds in 2022 which the OVP spent in just 11 days.
The COA has also issued Audit Observation Memorandums (AOM) for the P375 million confidential funds spent in the first three quarters of 2023 because of alleged irregularities.
The committee chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua is also looking into the P112.5 million in confidential funds allocated in 2023 to DepEd when Duterte was still heading the department.
Like Romualdez, Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said the Vice President should stop using her staff as “shields” and face the committee, herself.
Instead of addressing the questions head-on, he said Duterte “spins a narrative to paint herself as a victim of political persecution.”
“Huwag kang pa-victim. Tama na ang pambubudol (Stop playing the victim. Stop fooling the people). The Vice President should stop using her staff as human shields. It’s about time that she face Congress, answer the questions and stop blaming others for her failures and fear of accountability,” Dalipe said in a statement.
Dalipe was reacting to Duterte’s claim that her staff do not deserve the kind of scrutiny the House is subjecting them to, especially since they are not politicians.
Dalipe dismissed Duterte’s remarks as “yet another ‘budol’ tactic from the Vice President.”
“The Vice President has been hiding while letting her staff take the heat. This is pure cowardice disguised as victimhood,” Dalipe added.
He urged the Vice President to “stop hiding behind your staff and career officials.”
“Stop using them as scapegoats to avoid answering the nation’s questions. Face Congress and explain yourself,” he said.
Duterte has only attended one hearing last September and even refused to take an oath to tell the truth.
“After six hearings, why has she refused to appear again? Instead, she sends career officials who have no personal knowledge of how these funds were used,” Dalipe said.
He said it is the duty of Congress to ensure that every peso of taxpayers’ money is used properly and for the benefit of the people.
“If there’s nothing to hide, there’s no reason to dodge questions,” Dalipe said. “The truth is, this isn’t about politics – it’s about accountability.”
“But the continuous evasion and attempts to shield her actions only prove there’s something Duterte doesn’t want the public to know,” he added.
OBSTRUCTION OF HOUSE HEARING
Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) yesterday said the House panel had to cite Lopez in contempt on Wednesday night because of the OVP’s previous attempts to obstruct the panel’s investigation into the Vice President’s alleged misuse of confidential funds,
Castro, who was the one who moved to cite Lopez in contempt, said her motion was carried because of “multiple instances of obstruction and misrepresentation.”
“The contempt order is not a hasty decision but rather the culmination of Ms. Lopez’s repeated attempts to obstruct our investigation. As early as the budget hearings, her letter to the Commission on Audit (COA) already showed clear intent to block congressional oversight,” Castro said in statement.
Castro moved to cite Lopez for contempt for undue interference because of her August 21 letter where she asked the COA not to comply with the subpoena issued by the House for the submission of audit reports on the OVP’s use of confidential funds.
The panel has ordered Lopez, a lawyer, to be detained at the Batasang Pambansa for five days or until Monday, when the panel holds its next hearing.
The OVP said Lopez has requested it not to issue any statement following the contempt citation and the subsequent detention order.
“Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez requested that no statement be issued regarding her detention. Thank you,” the OVP said on Wednesday night.
The Vice President has previously said she was willing to accompany her subordinates in detention once they are cited in contempt by the committee.
Lopez admitted to lawmakers during the hearing that the OVP had asked the COA not to comply with the subpoena issued by the House for the submission of audit reports on its use of confidential funds, citing among many other reasons, the violation of constitutional principle of separation of powers.
Lopez, however, said the letter “does not seek to undermine the power of Congress” because the OVP merely pointed out in the letter to the COA that the audit investigation is still ongoing.
Lopez repeatedly denied that she had anything to do with the release and use of confidential funds, saying she had no personal knowledge since the documents for such did not go through her.
Castro however said Lopez’s claim was unbelievable because “the evidence is very clear that she has direct knowledge in the use and disbursement of confidential funds.”
“Hindi katanggap-tanggap ang kanyang pahayag na wala siyang kinalaman dito, lalo na’t siya mismo ang chief of staff ng OVP (Her statement that she has nothing to do with it is unacceptable, especially since she is the chief of staff o f the OVP),” said the lawmaker, who is from the militant Makabayan bloc.
Castro refuted Lopez’s claims that the letter to COA was meant to seek clarification pending the audit findings. “It was a categorical objection to the House investigation, showing their determination to impede our constitutional mandate of oversight,” she stressed.
“We challenge the Office of the Vice President particularly VP Sara Duterte to stop these squid and delaying tactics and face the investigation squarely. The Filipino people deserve nothing less than complete transparency and accountability,” Castro said.
FICTITIOUS NAMES
The good government panel on Wednesday night also approved a motion to enlist government agencies in verifying the identities of individuals, including a certain “Mary Grace Piattos,” who were listed as recipients of the millions of confidential funds disbursed by the OVP.
The panel decided to seek the assistance of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Philippine National Police (PNP), to verify the fictitious names in the receipts submitted by the OVP and the DepEd when the Vice President was still education secretary, as liquidation documents to the COA.
Congressmen and netizens earlier questioned the existence of one Mary Grace Piattos, whose name appears in the OVP’s receipts, saying she could be a made-up figure whose first name – Mary Grace – could have been taken from the name of a popular cafe diner, while the surname Piattos could have come from a known local potato chips snack brand.
“I would like to move that this dubious, spurious, and highly irregular (acknowledgment receipts) be referred to the [PSA] to verify the names enumerated therein if these persons really exist,” said Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol) after interpellating COA lawyer Gloria Camora regarding irregularities in acknowledgment receipts (ARs) submitted by the OVP to justify its spending.
Lawmakers have expressed belief that the OVP may have fabricated acknowledgment receipts signed by fictitious individuals to liquidate its confidential fund expenditures after the COA issued its audit observations.
During the hearing, lawmakers also stumbled upon another fictitious name, a certain “Kokoy Villamin,” who was found to have signed receipts in both the OVP and DepEd.
The two receipts bore two different signatures, both under Villamin’s name, which lawmakers said suggests potential falsification of the liquidation documents by fabricating names in the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) to justify confidential fund spending.
Lawmakers have been looking into 158 ARs that were attached to the liquidation reports submitted by the OVP to the COA to justify the P125 million confidential funds that were allegedly spent in just 11 days in 2022.
The Chua panel also adopted Bongalon’s motion urging the NBI and the PNP to conduct handwriting and signature examinations to determine the authenticity of the ARs, with Piattos as a priority.
“I would like to move also that the (ARs) be referred to the (NBI) and the (PNP for them to assist us in conducting a handwriting or signature examination to verify whether the recipients of these confidential funds are real or not, with Ms. Mary Grace Piattos as the first priority,” he said.
Bongalon has also flagged ARs totaling P26.32 million, for bearing dates outside the covered period.
The receipts were used by the OVP to justify the use of P500 million in confidential funds which was released in four installments of P125 million, starting at the end of 2022 and continuing through the first three quarters of 2023.
Bongalon said that while some of the ARs were included in previous disallowances, an additional P17.6 million remains unaccounted for and could be subject to the issuance of another Notice of Disallowance by the COA.
‘NOT POSSIBLE’
Chua said he personally believes that there is a case to impeach the Vice President.
He however said the prospects of pursuing the filing of a complaint is slim given that there is only less than three months before the campaign period for the 2025 midterm elections starts.
“Kung tatanungin po sa akin kung may grounds for impeachment, definitely meron po. Ngayon, kung ito po ay magpo-proceed sa impeachment, it’s a very challenging question dahil alam naman po natin yung sitwasyon natin ngayon (If you ask me if there are grounds for impeachment, definitely there are. Now, if this will proceed to impeachment, it’s a very challenging question because we know the situation now),” he said.
“By next year, simula na po ng kampanya. So, medyo hindi ko po alam kung ito po ay posible. (The campaign season for the May 2025 polls will start next year, so I don’t really know if this will be possible),” he added.
Chua has said the Vice President may face impeachment over grounds of graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust “by all technicalities.”
He said the OVP’s use of P16 million confidential funds for safe houses and the P15 million expenditure for a youth summit by the DepEd when Duterte was the concurrent education secretary could be used as grounds to impeach her if she will not be able to explain how the funds were used.
He said that while his panel’s investigation was initially launched “in aid of legislation,” it has since uncovered possible grounds for Duterte’s impeachment, particularly graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust.
The panel has been pressing Duterte to explain why the DepEd falsely claimed to the COA that it used P15 million of its confidential funds in connection with eight YLS events in 2023 when it was the AFP that paid for it.
Four military officers, including Army Col. Manaros Boransing, have told the panel that the Philippine Army and the local government units spent its own funds for the YLS.
However, lawmakers found out that DepEd, in liquidating P15 million in confidential funds, made it appear that it funded the YLS. The Duterte-led DepEd used the certifications issued by these officers to justify P15 million in confidential funds supposedly allocated for informant payments.