House panel orders OVP execs’ detention

Four officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) were ordered detained on the premises of the House of Representatives following their continued defiance of an invitation to attend a congressional probe into the alleged misuse of funds by the office.

The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability ruled the officials would be confined at the House until it concludes the committee report and formally adopts it in plenary.

The detained officials are former Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda and Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda — both of whom had transferred to the OVP — OVP Assistant Chief of Staff and Bids and Awards Committee Chair Lemuel Ortonio, and Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta.

The four were among the seven OVP officials who were subpoenaed by the panel for continuously disregarding summons to attend the legislative investigation despite show-cause orders.

In a position paper submitted to the committee, the officials asserted their right to decline the invitation, arguing that they were only resource persons and not accused in a criminal proceeding.

“Thus, they should be accorded respect and courtesy since they were under no compulsion to accept the invitation extended to them, yet they did so anyway,” the letter read.