Subpoenaed OVP officials skipped House probe anew; one already fled country

Seven officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) subject to a subpoena skipped—for the fourth time—a congressional investigation into the office’s alleged fund misuse, with one of them having already fled the country ahead of the hearing. 

In a position paper submitted to the House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability on Tuesday, the officials asserted that the subpoena was not valid and the hearing was not in aid of legislation and violative of their rights. 

They also raised the jurisdictional issue and their right to decline invitation and subjudice because of a pending case before the Supreme Court of the OVP’s alleged questionable use of its P125 million confidential funds.

The officials signatories to the document were the same individuals subpoenaed by the panel, namely, former Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda, Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda, OVP Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, Assistant Chief of Staff and Bids and Awards Committee Chair Lemuel Ortonio, Administrative and Financial Services Director Rosalynne Sanchez, Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, and Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey.

“We observed that the subject matter of the proceedings has substantially changed, and discussions are no longer germane to the original matter for referral,” they said.

“This provides an unfair setting for resource persons… It is akin to a violation of their rights to due process for lack of proper notice of the definite scope of their appearance,” they added.

An immigration lookout bulletin had already been issued against the seven over the weekend amid concerns about their potential flight in the congressional investigation.

However, Acting Chief Atty. Vicente Uncad of the Bureau of Immigration said they did not receive the notice and that Lopez had already left Manila for Los Angeles on Sunday evening, one day before the scheduled hearing on Tuesday. 

The committee served the subpoena on 2 and 4 November against the OVP officials following their repeated refusal to attend the hearing despite show-cause orders. 

The officials, however, argued that the subpoena “is not valid," noting that it was ”issued for a past October 28, 2024 hearing schedule.”

"Given these circumstances, the subpoena issued to OVP executives can no longer be legally served nor obeyed as the scheduled hearing date of 28 October 2024, was reset until further notice in an earlier notice given," the officials said. 

A visibly irked panel vice chairperson, Bienvenido Abante Jr., warned the OVP officials of contempt citation if they would keep “insulting” the committee by snubbing anew the subsequent hearings.

“Mr. chair, if they will not come for the fifth time, then I might make a motion to hold them in contempt because this is the fourth time. This is unfair to these people here who have attended every time they called upon,” he added. 

Abante, in concurrence with other panel members, raised suspicion that the seven officials might just be following orders from the higher-ups to skip the investigation.

“It seems to me that they are avoiding asking how the government funds were used, which they should explain to this committee,” Abante said. 

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong, meanwhile, emphasized that “refusal to attend a committee hearing constitutes a violation under the Revised Penal Code in Article 150,” which has a penalty of aresto mayor or jail time of one to six months.

Nonetheless, committee chairperson Joel Chua ruled that they will reissue another subpoena “with a stern warning that the next time they fail to attend, we will be constrained to issue a much heavier penalty.”

Included in the subpoena were OVP Chief Administrative Officer Kelvin Teñido and Evelyn Rabago. 

The House investigation stems from findings by the Commission on Audit, which flagged P125 million in confidential funds that the OVP spent over just 11 days in December 2022, during Duterte’s first year in office.

The ongoing probe also involved the P112.5 million in confidential funds of the DepEd that remain unaccounted for despite being withdrawn as cash advances by one of Duterte’s close aides while she served as Secretary of the DepEd.

The funds in question were withdrawn via three separate checks of P37.5 million each, issued to then-DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda during the first three quarters of 2023.

Duterte was also accused of giving monthly cash envelopes ranging from P15,000 to P50,000  to her subordinates in the DepEd, which she vehemently denied. 

Duterte headed the DepEd for nearly two years until her resignation on 19 July. She was replaced by seasoned lawmaker Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara.