ADMINISTRATION lawmakers yesterday said the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), which showed that 41 percent of Filipinos support moves to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, is a reflection of the public’s outrage over her alleged misuse of confidential funds in both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her term as secretary.
“The numbers don’t lie. The public is demanding accountability, and this survey reflects their growing frustration over the glaring irregularities surrounding the Vice President’s actions,” said Zambales Rep. Jeffrey Khonghun.
The survey, conducted between Dec. 12 and 18, 2024, also showed 35 percent oppose Duterte’s impeachment while 9 percent remain undecided.
The Vice President is facing three impeachment complaints so far, filed by various groups led by Akbayan party-list, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), and a group of priests and lawyers. A fourth complaint is expected to be filed this week or next week when the House of Representatives resumes session.
Khonghun said the public learned from hearings of the House Committee on Good Government the “damning evidence” against the Vice President, including her use of fabricated recipients like “Mary Grace Piattos” in justifying the use of confidential funds and the thousands of other suspicious transactions.
He said the survey results “reinforce the responsibility of Congress to uphold the integrity of the impeachment process.”
“The survey is just the beginning. The evidence is overwhelming, and the Filipino people deserve justice,” Khonghun said. “No one is above the law, not even the Vice President.”
Piattos and a certain “Kokoy Villamin,” who was also listed as a recipient of Duterte’s confidential funds, both have no birth, marriage and death records in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the impeachment complaints “are not politically motivated but are rooted in compelling evidence of governance failures and malfeasance.”
“This is about accountability. The evidence against the Vice President is glaring, from the misuse of confidential funds to a pattern of governance riddled with questions. The Filipino people deserve answers, and their support for impeachment shows they are demanding transparency and justice,” he said.
ENTITLEMENT
Ortega said findings of the good government committee chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua “demonstrate a clear pattern of deception and abuse.”
“Filipinos are watching. They are sending a clear message that leadership should be built on trust, not entitlement. It is now up to Congress to respond to their call for accountability,” Ortega said.
Former DepEd Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Edward Fajarda earlier told the Chua panel that Col. Dennis Nolasco, a security officer at the DepEd, was the one who disbursed the agency’s P112.5 million confidential funds in 2023, while SDO Gina Acosta said she disbursed P125 million of the OVP’s 2023 secret funds to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, head of the Vice President Security and Protection Group.
The two SDOS have testified that their actions were carried out under the Vice President’s instructions.
The disbursement of the P125 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP in 2022 was also found to be riddled with irregularities, including dates outside of the funding period, forged signatures, and fake names.
During the committee hearings, it was revealed that the OVP spent P16 million to rent 34 safe houses for just 11 days in late 2022, with one safe house costing nearly P91,000 per day.
The OVP was likewise found to have allocated P15 million for youth leadership summits supposedly conducted with the Philippine Army. Military officials, however, have denied receiving such funds, saying the youth leadership summits were funded by the military and local government units, raising suspicions of misrepresentation and fabrication of activities to justify fund utilization.
‘MOUNTING FRUSTRATIONS’
Rep. Percival Cendaña (PL, Akbayan), the endorser of the first complaint filed by the group led by Akbayan, said the SWS survey “reflects the growing public consensus for her removal from office, driven by mounting frustrations over her questionable leadership and actions.”
“It is a clear indication that the Filipino people are awakening to the urgent need for accountability among our highest officials. This survey not only validates the growing distrust towards the Vice President but also highlights the Filipino people’s resolve to hold the powerful accountable. The momentum for justice is undeniable, and the call for truth and integrity in governance continues to gain strength,” he said in a statement.
Lawyer Amando Virgil D. Ligutan, a legal counsel for the complainants of the third complaint, said it is no longer surprising that more Filipinos are in favor of impeaching the Vice President than those who are against it.
“There is palpable broad-based support for the initiatives to hold her accountable for the controversial manner she spent the multi-million confidential funds entrusted to her by the Filipino people, and her even more controversial stance not to explain to the public how she did it,” he said. “That really struck a nerve among our people. That made our people angry.”
Ligutan said Filipinos “are tired of the kind of politics Duterte represents, which is described as normalizing impunity and disregarding public trust.”
He said the undecided 19 percent of survey respondents also encouraged the impeachment proponents to further intensify their efforts in raising awareness about the Vice President’s impeachable offenses.
“We get it. But this encourages us … to work even harder to make these undecided realize that there are two starkly opposite sides to choose from – one that promotes honesty, integrity and accountability in the handling of public funds, and the other one that espouses their opposites – dishonesty, corruption and impunity in the handling of public funds,” he said.
The first impeachment complaint, filed on December 2 by civil society and religious organizations, accused the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
The second was filed just two days later by 72 individuals led by Bayan members. It cited only one ground.
The third 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.
