VICE President Sara Duterte has no plans to attend the next hearing of the House committee on good government next week on her alleged misuse of confidential funds, saying there is no point attending when she was only made to sit down instead of being allowed to air her side when she attended the panel’s first hearing last September.
“Inimbita nila ako noong una, pumunta ako, umupo ako roon. Hindi naman nila ako tinanong. Nakaupo lang ako, nasasayang ang oras ko. Kaya nag-paalam ako kung pwede ako umalis at pinayagan naman nila ako (They invited me during the first hearing and I attended. I sat there. They did not ask me questions. I was just sitting and my time was being wasted. So I asked permission to leave and they allowed me),” she told reporters.
The Vice President was interviewed during the Office of the Vice President’s 89th founding anniversary held at the OVP’s central office in Mandaluyong City.
“So hindi ko alam kung bakit inimbita nila ako (sa November 20), hindi naman nila ako binigyan ng mga tanong. Pero, hindi ako a-attend sa hearings nilang susunod. Kasi nandun na ako e, pumunta ako pero wala naman silang ginawa sa akin, pinaupo lang ako (So I don’t know why they invited me again for the November 20 hearing when they didn’t even asked me questions last time. I will not attend their next hearings because I was already there, I went there and they didn’t do anything, I was just made to sit down),” she said.
Duterte personally received the invitation from the panel chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua when she attended as a guest the hearing of the House quad committee, which is looking into extrajudicial killings under her father’s war on drugs, last Wednesday night.
The Vice President was there to support her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who participated in the hearing on the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under his war in drugs.
The Chua committee requested her attendance at a congressional hearing on November 20 to address issues regarding the questionable utilization of a total of hundreds of millions in confidential funds in both the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), which the Vice President used to head as concurrent education secretary.
The Vice President said the OVP would send the House a letter explaining the issues and submit an affidavit about the use of confidential funds.
“Under oath din naman ‘yang affidavit na ‘yan (An affidavit is also made under oath),” she pointed out.
She claimed that she was only invited by the panel once, last September, but Chua disputed it, saying the Vice President was invited to both the first and second hearings, held on September 18 and 25.
“She declined to attend the third, fourth, and fifth hearings scheduled on Oct. 17, Nov. 5, and Nov. 11, after submitting a formal letter stating she would not be present,” Chua said,
In a letter dated Sept. 23 addressed to Chua, Duterte declined to attend further hearings, citing constitutional concerns and arguing that the inquiry was unnecessary, as the claims could be verified through public records.
She had also questioned the House rules, alleging that they potentially violate constitutional rights, and noted that related issues are already pending before the Supreme Court.
“The Vice President has been given every opportunity to clarify the use of public funds in her office, particularly those that are shielded from typical auditing processes due to confidentiality,” Chua said. “The House remains steadfast in its responsibility to protect taxpayer money,” he stressed. “We trust that the Vice President will take this opportunity to directly address the public’s concerns, as every official entrusted with public funds should.”
La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the Vice President obviously does not want to answer and be held accountable for the misuse of public funds, recalling that she even refused to take the “oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” given to resource persons in congressional inquiries the first time she appeared before the committee.
Last Monday, the good government panel cited in contempt four officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) who snubbed its hearing even after being subpoenaed.
The committee however, 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 Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda and SDO Edward Fajarda, who transferred are now both with the OVP after Duterte resigned as education secretary last July.
The Vice President has 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.
OVP administrative and financial services Director Rosalynne Sanchez and Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey and budget division chief administrative officer Kelvin Gerome Teñido attended the hearing, but said they were not privy to the disbursement of confidential funds.
In the same interview, the Vice President said her father should be awarded the “best dramatic actor” reward during the hearing of the House quad committee.
She gave her father a score of “12 out of 10” when she was to rate his performance.
“Kayo na lang umintindi, nakikita ninyo naman sa ginagawa niya e. Kitang kita (It’s up to you to understand, you’ve seen what he did. It’s very obvious),” she said.
She said she went to the hearing to keep his father’s health in check, especially since she was worried that his blood sugar was going down because he was not eating his meals throughout the hearing, which began at around 10 in the morning and lasted shortly before midnight.
“Pinuntahan ko si former President Duterte kasi usually hindi siya nakikinig sa mga kasama niya. Humihingi sila ng tulong sa akin na pagsabihan. Sinabi noong kasama niya na 6 a.m. pa gising, nagsimula ang araw niya 6 a.m. and mga 10:30 p.m. na yata, sinabi na (sa akin) na baka low blood sugar na kasi hindi kumakain (I went to see former President Duterte because he was not listening to those who accompanied him. They asked me to talk to him. They said he was up at 6 a.m., he started his day at 6 a.m. and at around 10:30 p.m., I was told his blood sugar might drop since he was not eating),” she said.
The Vice President said this was why she requested the joint panel led by overall chair Surigao Rep. Robert Ace Barbers to excuse his father, who did not want to leave.
“Pero naniwala naman siya ‘nung sinabi namin na kumain na muna siya (But he eventually gave in when we told him he should eat first),” she said.
The former president was accompanied by his former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, former chief presidential legal counsel Salvaldor Panelo, former Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III and his counsel, Martin Delgra III.
