VICE President Sara Duterte’s chief of staff left the country on the eve of the resumption of a House probe into alleged mishandling of a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd).
The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, also known as the Blue Ribbon Committee, learned on Tuesday that OVP Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez departed for the United States on Monday night.
Lopez was one of the seven OVP officials earlier subpoenaed by the committee to testify regarding the alleged misuse of P500 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) allocated to the OVP in 2022 and 2023.
The committee, chaired by Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, was informed that Lopez passed through the immigration counter at Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Terminal 1 at 7:31 p.m. on Monday and departed on Philippine Airlines flight PR 102 bound for Los Angeles, California, at approximately 10:25 p.m. that same evening.
Chua had earlier requested the Department of Justice to place Lopez and six other OVP officials on an immigration lookout bulletin after his committee received information suggesting they might be preparing to leave the country.
A lookout bulletin serves only for monitoring and does not prohibit a subject from departing the Philippines.
Aside from Lopez, six other OVP officials were absent from Tuesday’s hearing, prompting the committee to reissue a subpoena ad testificandum requiring their presence in the next hearing, with a stern warning of more severe consequences should they fail to appear.
The six are Assistant Chief of Staff and Bids and Awards Committee Chair Lemuel Ortonio, Administrative and Financial Services Director Rosalynne Sanchez, Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Gina Acosta, Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey, and former DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda and former DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda.
Also in Tuesday’s hearing, the Chua panel issued subpoenas to two more OVP officials, Budget Division Chief Edelyn Rabago and Chief Administrative Officer Kelvin Gerome Teñido.
The Fajarda couple, known close aides of Vice President Duterte, reportedly transferred to the OVP after her resignation from the DepEd in July.
The committee learned that five of the six other subpoenaed OVP officials are in the country, according to their latest travel records. Only Acosta’s status remains unclear due to multiple individuals with the same name.
Upon the motion of Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, seconded by Deputy Speaker and Quezon 2nd District Rep. David “Jay-jay” Suarez, the committee decided to reissue subpoenas to the OVP officials after they failed to respond to invitations four times.
Chua said he could not understand why the Duterte underlings continue to refuse to attend its inquiry while other officials have responded to its invitations.
“But to accommodate them, and to comply with our three-day rule as pointed out by Congressman Paduano, we will reissue the subpoenas,” he said.
He warned the seven that if they do not show up in the committee’s next hearing, his panel would be forced to impose “a heavier penalty,” apparently referring to its option to cite them in contempt and order their arrest and detention.
In presenting his motion for the re-issuance of summonses, Paduano cited the three-day rule under which a subpoena must be issued and received three days prior to a hearing.
The seven OVP officers invoked the rule for their absence, among other reasons, in a joint position paper sent to the committee on Monday.
The Chua panel was informed by its staff that the subpoenas were served at the OVP offices over the weekend but that a legal assistant refused to accept them.
The committee is seeking the explanations of the seven OVP officers on the alleged misuse of P500 million in CIFs of the OVP and an additional P112.5 million of DepEd when Duterte was education secretary.
The Commission on Audit has flagged almost half of the total and disallowed P73 million of the P125 million spent by the Vice President’s office in just 11 days during the last quarter of 2022.
After attending the initial hearing, Vice President Duterte has skipped subsequent hearings of the Chua committee.
Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr., a senior vice chairman of the investigating panel, said the committee has given the OVP officers enough time to show up in its hearings.
“It’s unfair to us who have been here present and to all those resource persons who have been attending our inquiry. These OVP people have kept insulting us,” he said.
Abante said he would support a motion to cite the seven in contempt, have them arrested and detained in the next hearing.
“Actually, Chairman Paduano is very kind to them. I would have supported a contempt motion,” he added
