Sara accused of ‘covering up’ OVP execs who skipped House probe into her P500-M secret funds

The House Committee on Good and Public Accountability deemed a “cover-up” the absence of close associates of Vice President Sara Duterte from its probe into the so-called misuse of the office’s P500 million in confidential funds.

Panel chairperson Joel Chua highly suspects that OVP Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez and Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta skipping Monday’s inquiry had the blessings of the higher-ups.

"What we see here is that they are sending the career officials who we think are not really concerned. It seems like there is a cover-up on this issue," Chua told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.

At the fifth hearing on Monday, OVP career officials—namely Administrative and Financial Services Director Rosalynne Sanchez, Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey, Budget Division Chief Edelyn Rabago, and Chief Administrative Officer Kelvin Gerome Tenido—finally appeared before the committee following a threat from Chua of an arrest order.

The four were among the seven OVP executives who were subpoenaed by the panel for their continuous disobedience of summons to attend the legislative investigation despite show-cause orders.

Despite the panel’s stern warning, Lopez and Acosta, both reportedly responsible for overseeing the OVP’s secret funds along with Duterte, were still no-shows on Monday.

Lopez, who left the country for Los Angeles, California a day before she was scheduled to appear before the committee last week, reasoned that she had to travel abroad, citing her sick aunt.

The OVP previously confirmed that Lopez’s travel authority had Duterte’s go-signal. Lawmakers called the departure “very suspicious,” regardless of whether it involved personal matters.

Meanwhile, Acosta and former Department of Education Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda, Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda—both transferred to the OVP—and Bids and Awards Committee Chair Lemuel Ortonio asserted their right to decline the invitation, saying they were only resource persons and not accused in a criminal proceeding.

The panel later ruled to order the arrest of the four but granted Lopez another chance for humanitarian reasons.

In a briefing on Monday, Duterte said her four officials skipped the probe due to preparations for the OVP’s upcoming anniversary.

Chua, however, did not give much credence to Duterte’s claim, pointing out that the committee had sent multiple invitations which they repeatedly ignored.

“This is not the first time they have been invited. This is actually the fifth committee hearing. They have been prohibiting those who are directly involved in the confidential fund [from attending the probe,” Chua emphasized, citing testimony that only Acosta, Lopez, and Duterte herself were privy to the details of the secret funds.

Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, one of the VP’s fiercest critics, said that Duterte prohibiting some of her officials from attending the congressional inquiry indicates “selective participation” intended to shield close aides from scrutiny.

"Actually, VP Sara is shielding her inner circle from accountability. There is selective participation; whoever they want to send and who has no direct involvement in the liquidation of the funds is the one they send,” Khonghun said in the same briefing.

The committee seeks explanations from OVP officials on the alleged misuse of P500 million worth of secret funds, which was disbursed in four installments of P125 million each, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2022 and continuing through the first three quarters of 2023.

The Commission on Audit has flagged a significant portion of the funds in question and even disallowed P73.287 million of the P125 million that the OVP spent in merely 11 days during the last quarter of 2022, Duterte’s first year in office.