Ombudsman orders Sara Duterte to respond to House's cases involving confidential funds
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered Vice President Sara Duterte—as well as officials from her office and the Department of Education—to respond to the complaints that the House of Representatives filed against them involving the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
GMA News reported that the Ombudsman gave Duterte and the others 10 days from the receipt of its order to file their counter-affidavits "together with the affidavit/s of their witness/es, and other supporting documents.”
The DepEd respondents include Edward Fajarda and Gina Acosta, special disbursing officers; Sunshine Charry Fajarda, director for the strategic management office; Nolasco Mempin, undersecretary for administration; and Annalyn Sevilla, undersecretary for finance service.
The OVP respondents were Zuleika Lopez, undersecretary and chief of staff; Lemuel Ortonio, assistant secretary and assistant chief of staff; and Dennis Nolasco and Raymund Dante Lachia, vice presidential security and protection group.
The Ombudsman warned that their failure to do so within the given period "shall be deemed as a waiver of respondents’ right to submit controverting evidence, and the preliminary investigation shall proceed accordingly."
The office noted that it won't entertain any motion to dismiss or motion for bill to particulars.
The House of Representatives on June 9 filed a complaint against Duterte and others for plunder, technical malversation, falsification, use of falsified documents, perjury, bribery, corruption of public officers, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
According to ABS-CBN News, the complaint stemmed from the House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability's recommendation to file cases against Duterte for the alleged misuse of confidential funds of the OVP (P500 million) from December 2022 and September 2023, and of DepEd (P112.5 million) from February to September 2023.
Committee Chairman Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua noted that the OVP spent P125 million in 11 days in 2022.
In a report, the committee said the plunder case against Duterte and others stemmed from their offices' alleged "amassing at least P50 million in public funds while the confidential funds misused amounts to P612.5 million."
The technical malversation case stemmed from the offices of Duterte's alleged use of confidential funds “for purposes other than confidential activities," while the perjury case stemmed from a notarized certification stating that “the funds were used for necessary and legal purposes in relation to the agency’s confidential activities, signed by the Head of Agency and SDO."
The bribery case stemmed from the witnesses' testimonies during a House hearing in which DepEd officials allegedly received white envelopes containing money.
Duterte previously denied the misuse of confidential funds.
The alleged misuse of confidential funds was among the issues cited by the House in impeaching Duterte on Feb. 5. The impeachment trial has yet to proceed, with the 19th Congress adjourning sine die on June 14 and the Senate remanding the complaint to the House.
Duterte's impeachment case and its merits will be tackled in the 20th Congress in July.
