THE House Committee on Good Government may recommend to the Office of the Ombudsman the filing of a plunder complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte if she fails to account for her P112.5 million confidential funds cash advances when she was still education secretary, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said yesterday.
Gonzales said the panel chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua said the Vice President still has the chance to explain where the money went as the panel continues to investigate the questionable disbursement which was uncovered during its hearing last October 17.
The funds in question were withdrawn through three separate checks, each worth P37.5 million, issued to DepEd Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Edward Fajarda, who has been subpoenaed to testify to attend the next hearing.
The cash advances were supposedly made during the first three quarters of 2023, when Duterte was still leading the department.
“Pera ito ng taumbayan, at kailangan nating tiyakin na ito ay nagamit ng tama (This is the people’s money, and we have to make sure that it was used correctly),” Gonzales said.
“Kung ang Bise Presidente, bilang pinuno ng DepEd noong panahong iyon, ay hindi makapagbigay ng malinaw at sapat na paliwanag kung paano ginamit ang perang ito, tungkulin namin na ituloy ang kinakailangang mga legal na hakbang, kabilang ang kasong plunder, upang ma-protektahan ang interes ng publiko (If the Vice President, as DepEd chief at that time, couldn’t give a clear and sufficient explanation how this money was used, it’s our duty to take the necessary legal steps, including a plunder case, to protect public interest),” he also said.
The confidential funds in question were part of the P150 million allocated to the DepEd in 2023 for programs aimed at addressing issues such as abuse prevention in schools, anti-extremism efforts and counterinsurgency.
“Kung hindi maipaliwanag ang paggamit ng P112.5 million (If the use of the P112.5 million can’t be explained), we may have no choice but to consider recommending the filing of a plunder case,” he added.
Duterte served as education secretary from July 2022 until July 2024, when she resigned and started openly criticizing President Marcos Jr. and his administration.
Gonzales, during the previous hearing, grilled DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla regarding the disbursement of the confidential funds and Fajarda’s role in encashing them.
While Sevilla confirmed that the checks were issued and encashed by Fajarda in accordance with the standard procedures for cash advances involving confidential funds, she said her role as the department’s undersecretary for finance was limited to processing the disbursement, as provided for by a joint circular governing the release of confidential funds.
She explained that the DepEd finance office had no role in overseeing how the funds were spent, saying there is no record on the utilization or liquidation of the funds.
“For the confidential funds, talagang sumusunod kami sa joint circular (we really follow the joint ciircular),” Sevilla explained. “Pero kami po sa finance, hindi kasama sa utilization o liquidation ng confidential funds (But us, in finance, are not part of the utilization or liquidation of confidential funds).”
Sevilla later confirmed that the checks were encashed at Land Bank of the Philippines and that Fajarda was the one who brought it to the DepEd main office.
Gonzales also cited discrepancies in the documentation since the disbursement vouchers for the funds were labeled as “Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE)” instead of confidential funds, which, he said, raises serious concerns about how the funds were categorized and whether they were used for their intended purposes.
The lawmaker also questioned the logistics of handling such large sums of money, pointing out that Fajarda would have had to physically transport P37.5 million in cash to the DepEd office, which does not have an elevator, on three separate occasions.
