House of Representatives.
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The House of Representatives鈥� committee on good government and public accountability has formally wrapped up its investigation into the alleged confidential fund (CF) misuse inside Vice President Sara Duterte鈥檚 offices.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the panel briefly addressed the investigation conducted by the committee on the CFs allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte previously headed.
Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano made the motion to terminate the hearings.聽 Committee chairperson and Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua approved the motion after it was duly seconded.
鈥淢r. Chairman,聽considering that all issues have been joined聽with regards to the Privilege Speech No. 379聽and the motu proprio inquiry聽on the manifestation of Rep. Gerville Luistro聽during the budget hearing of the Department of Education聽in the Committee on Appropriations on September 2, 2024,聽I move to terminate the deliberation聽on the said privilege speech and motu proprio inquiry.聽 So moved, Mr. Chairman,鈥� Paduano said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a motion to terminate聽the budget utilization of OVP and DepEd [鈥 Is there a second to the motion?聽 July seconded by Honorable Crispin Remulla.聽 Is there any objection?聽Hearing none, the motion is carried,鈥� Chua replied.
The hearing adjourned after the motion was approved.
The hearings of the House committee on good government and public accountability on the OVP and DepEd fund use issue were significant in building the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
One of the articles focused on the discoveries made during the course of the hearings, including revelations about unusual names signing off acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for confidential expenses made by Duterte鈥檚 offices.
ARs are submitted to the Commission on Audit to demonstrate that funding for projects has reached its intended beneficiaries, which in this case are confidential informants.
Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop noticed that one of the individuals who signed the ARs was named聽Mary聽Grace聽Piattos聽鈥� a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand.
Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs 鈥� one for the Office of the Vice President and another for the Department of Education 鈥� which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.聽聽However, the signatures and handwriting used by Villamin in the two documents聽differed.
Neither name was found in the Philippine Statistics Authority database.
Additionally, officials from DepEd and OVP have acknowledged that, at Duterte鈥檚 instruction, they delegated the release of the CFs to individuals who are not designated as special disbursement officers (SDOs).
On November 25, Gina Acosta, OVP鈥檚 SDO, stated that she had left the release of CFs to Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group Chief Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.聽 Aside from Acosta, former DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda said that Duterte, when she was still Education secretary, designated Col. Dennis Nolasco as the official responsible for disbursing the CFs.
Lawmakers also observed that DepEd under Duterte allegedly made it appear that CFs were used for a youth training program, when in fact it was the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and local government units (LGUs) that shouldered most of the expenses.
At an October 17 hearing of the same panel, Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro asked Army Col. Manaros Boransing as to what agencies鈥� funds were used for the Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) 鈥� an anti-insurgency campaign for young people which DepEd supposedly allocated P15 million of its CF.
Boransing said the Philippine Army and the local聽government聽units spent funds for the YLS.
READ: DepEd under Duterte makes it seem it鈥檚 funding AFP training 鈥� solon
Duterte was聽impeached聽by the House last聽February聽5, after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth聽impeachment聽complaint.聽 The articles of聽impeachment聽were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial聽to start forthwith if at least one-thirds of all House members 鈥� in this case, 102 out of 306 鈥斅犅爃ave signed and endorsed the petition.
However, trial has yet to start as the articles of impeachment were not forwarded to the Senate plenary before session ended on February 5. /jpv