VP Sara Duterte —Lyn Rillon Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. —HREP Photo
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte and other ex-officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) could face plunder charges unless they can explain and account for how P112.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the agency was spent during the former education secretary’s tenure.
Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. on Sunday reminded the Vice President that she was not immune from suits and urged Duterte to explain the “questionable” disbursement of the DepEd’s confidential funds.
READ: DepEd flunks review due to funds, teachers
According to Gonzales, the House of Representatives’ panel on good government and public accountability, which is chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua, could recommend the filing of plunder charges against Duterte and several DepEd officials involved in the alleged misuse of the agency’s P112.5 million confidential funds.
The funds in question were part of the P150 million allocated to the DepEd in 2023 purportedly for use in programs involving crime and abuse prevention in schools, anti-extremism efforts, and counterinsurgency.
Gonzales maintained the testimony of resource persons in the committee’s Oct. 17 hearing, which opened the former education secretary and her officials to possible plunder charges.
He noted that it was shown during the inquiry that the P112.5-million confidential funds were withdrawn through three separate checks, each worth P37.5 million, issued to DepEd special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda for the first three quarters of 2023.
Labeled as MOOE
The checks were supposedly encashed by Fajarda at the Land Bank of the Philippines and disbursed with the vouchers labeled as “Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE)” and not as confidential funds.
Gonzales said since it’s under MOOE and not labeled confidential funds, it raised serious concerns as it indicated a lack of transparency and possible misuse of public funds.
The lawmaker from Pampanga stressed in Filipino: “This is taxpayers’ money and we need to make sure it was properly used.”
“If the Vice President, who headed the agency at that time, can’t provide a clear and sufficient explanation on how the funds were used, it is our responsibility to take legal action, including the filing of plunder charges, to protect the public interest,” Gonzales said, noting that the threshold for plunder is at P50 million.
He added clarifications made by legal and constitutional experts who have said that while a sitting Vice President was impeachable, the country’s second highest official did not enjoy immunity from suit and was open to criminal charges while in office.
Cash advances
During the Oct. 17 panel hearing, education undersecretary for finance Annalyn Sevilla confirmed that three P37.5-million checks for confidential funds were issued to and subsequently encashed as cash advances by Fajarda, being the agency’s special disbursing officer.
Sevilla said that apart from encashing the checks, Fajarda was also responsible for transporting the funds.
Fajarda, who has been summoned by the panel, is yet to appear before the committee, while Duterte has not responded to allegations of the alleged misuse of confidential funds when she was DepEd chief from July 2022 to July this year.