House Committee Questions VP Sara Duterte's Use

House Committee Questions VP Sara Duterte's Use | Daily Tribune

The hearings by the House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability on the way Vice President Sara Duterte used, or misused, the humongous sums of money intended for confidential and intelligence funds of both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she headed for two years from June 2022 to July 2024, wrapped up on Monday.

The committee hearings — seven in all, from 18 September to 9 December — ended sans a recommendation of actual cases to be filed.

However, enough material can be extracted from the committee proceedings to build potential cases, from technical malversation of public funds to plunder, against the Vice President and members of her staff.

For instance, based on the Commission on Audit (CoA) finding of the Vice President’s failure to submit proof that her offices’ confidential expenditures were connected to national security and peace and order, which is counter to government joint circular guidelines, that is grounds for technical malversation.

The hearings laid bare the apparent falsification of documents as shown in acknowledgement receipts (ARs) bearing contrived names of signatories and inconsistent signatures.

Perjury may also have been committed when certain OVP staff signed notarized CoA certifications contrary to their claims that they were unaware of how the confidential funds were spent.

Also probable offenses are bribery and corruption of government employees, particularly officers of the OVP and the DepEd who confirmed receiving cash gifts from the Vice President.

Plunder, too, may have been committed on the basis of the allegedly irregular confidential expenditures over two years by the OVP and the DepEd coming to over P612 million.

Listening to the summary of the hearings by the House committee on good governance and public accountability last Monday, one continues to feel aghast by the VP’s refusal to explain and the inability of her staff in the OVP and the DepEd to answer satisfactorily how and why 405 of 677 supposed recipients of confidential funds as indicated in the acknowledgement receipts submitted to the Commission on Audit have no birth, death or marriage records.

Among those with no birth records is one “Kokoy Villamin,” who received confidential funds from the DepEd and the OVP but whose signatures differed on the ARs. Also questioned were receipts where one “Alice Cresencio” was the payee but whose signatures and addresses on various ARs also differed.

Stressed Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, “Kalokohan na ito. Itong mga taga-pirma or tagagawa nitong mga ARs na ito ay hindi coordinated (This is nonsense. Those who signed or prepared these ARs were not coordinated).”

The hearings on the Vice President’s use (or misuse) of confidential and intelligence funds may have ended but these critical questions remain unanswered: where did over P600 million in funds disbursed by her offices between 2022 and 2023 go, and how were these spent?

In categorical terms, Rep. Adiong pointed out, “We were scammed through scores of acknowledgement receipts that were hastily doctored or simply fabricated.”

For his part, Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Jil Bongalon underscored, “Kapag hinanap sayo kung nasaan yung funds or saan napunta at wala kang masagot, the law presumes na binulsa mo (When you’re asked where the funds are or where they went and you have no answer, the law presumes that you pocketed it).”

Vice President Sara Duterte has repeatedly declared that she has never misused any public funds and that the House committee hearings were actually for the filing of an impeachment case against her.

On 2 December, representatives of several civic groups filed an impeachment complaint against her, followed by another by left-oriented group Makabayan for betrayal of public trust due to the alleged misuse of public funds, among other offenses.

Last Monday, Rep. Chua clarified that “the only inquiry we concluded was on the confidential funds,” and that his committee would continue probing the regular fund use of the OVP and the DepEd under VP Duterte.

How much more evidence of irregularities must be seen by the House committee members before they consider recommending actual appropriate charges to be filed, how many grounds must there be to punish those who would mock Congress, fool the government and scam the people out of their money?