Justice panel seeks records of ex-DepEd Usec Mercado

Documents and testimonies of former Department of Education Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado have been ordered to be presented in the impeachment proceedings of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The records were contained in the Legislative Archives and Museum Management Service of the congress following Mercado’s participation in the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearings between September to November.

Aside from paperwork, the Justice panel also sought for the complete video recordings of the aforementioned proceedings.

All of the information disclosed by the former undersecretary was in relation to the supposed misuse of Duterte’s confidential funds during her time as education secretary.

One of the controversial pieces of evidence submitted by Mercado were nine envelopes labeled “HoPE,” containing P50,000 in alleged bribe money.

She claimed that the payments were provided to her by the Vice President through then Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda.

“Between February 2023 and September 2023, I received a total of nine (9) envelopes labeled ‘HoPE,’ my concurrent position in DepEd during that time. These envelopes were handed to me monthly,” she said during a house session.

“From VP, is what she would typically say as she hands the envelopes,” she added pertaining to Fajarda.

Aside from Mercado, Duterte’s former DepEd chief of staff Atty. Michael Poa was also called to attend the Committee on Justice’s April 14 proceedings.

Unlike Mercado who has been mum on the recent proceedings against the vice president, Poa has been tagged as part of the latter’s defense counsel.