House: 1 of 7 OVP officials linked to alleged fund misuse left PH

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — One of the seven officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) linked to alleged misuse of government funds under Vice President Sara Duterte’s watch fled the Philippines for Los Angeles on Monday night.

House committee secretary Sheryl Lagrosas reported this to lawmakers during a hearing on Tuesday.

“[Of] all the seven whom we requested travel records, only one fled the country. Atty. Zuleika Lopez entered the immigration gates of the airport last night at 7:31 p.m. to board (Philippine Airlines) flight PR102 from Manila to Los Angeles,” she said.

The airplane left Manila at 10:25 p.m., she added.

Earlier, the House committee on good government urged the Department of Justice to issue a lookout bulletin against the seven OVP officials. The request also came after subpoenas were issued against the OVP officials for their repeated absences from previous hearings.

Panel chair and Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua said he requested the DOJ after receiving information that the following OVP officials may be preparing to leave the country, besides Lopez:

• 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 Juleita Villadelrey
• former Department of Education Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda
• SDO Edward Fajarda

Records showed that Ortonio, Sanchez, Villadelrey, Charry Fajarda, and Edward Fajarda remain in the Philippines, while Acosta’s status remains unclear since her name is similar to multiple individuals.

The panel also issued another subpoena to the seven OVP officers and two other OVP officials, Budget Division chief Edelyn Rabago and Chief Administrative Officer Kelvin Gerome Teñido.

Chua pointed out the importance of the testimonies of the OVP officials in the committee’s ongoing probe, which started with a privilege speech by Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano, accusing Duterte of fund mismanagement based on findings by the Commission on Audit (COA).

“COA disallowed over P73 million of the P125 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP in 2022—amounting to nearly 60 percent of the total,” his statement read.

“Even more alarming, COA reported that this amount was spent within just 11 days, from December 21 to 31, 2022, averaging over P11 million per day,” it added. “In its Notice of Disallowance, COA ordered Duterte, along with Acosta and Villadelrey as accountable officials, to return the disallowed P73 million to the government.”