Zamora on VP Sara’s quad panel visit: She should attend OVP fund probe

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte should be able to attend the probe into her office’s allegedly irregular fund utilization if she can pay the House of Representatives’ quad committee a visit, Taguig 2nd District Rep. Amparo Maria Zamora said on Tuesday.

Zamora said this in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex after Duterte said last November 15 that she would not attend the House committee on good government and public accountability hearing on Wednesday, and would just submit an affidavit about the confidential fund issues.

Duterte showed up at the quad committee hearing last November 13, where her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, was a resource person.

According to Zamora, it is “good” that the Vice President would submit an affidavit as this is done under oath, but there are still many questions that she has to answer.

“You know if she was able to come here last week, she should be able to go here tomorrow. In fact, when she went here, when the Vice President arrived, I said ‘Oh I think she’s in the wrong hearing,'” Zamora said in Filipino.

“And then it turns out she was there to watch over her father who does not follow the instructions of people who were with him. And that was very kind of her. So, you know, if she was able to arrive last week, we expect her to come tomorrow, even though she said she won’t come, we hope she’ll arrive tomorrow,” she added.

READ: Duterte defies VP Sara’s appeal to excuse him from hearing

Zamora also stressed that the hearing is an opportunity for Vice President Duterte to clarify issues, noting that her absence forgoes this chance.

“That’s why if she can defend herself, she should come,” she added.

Committee chair and Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua is also hopeful that Duterte will change her mind and attend the hearing,

“For us, we’re still hopeful that she can attend because we think the affidavit is not enough. So how can we ask her questions? Because many of the committee members want to be clarified,” Chua explained in Filipino.

Chua also said they cannot prevent the public from thinking that Duterte has been evading the House probe since she did not take an oath to tell the truth, unlike her father.

During the quad committee hearing where alleged human rights violations in the Duterte administration’s drug war were discussed, former President Duterte took an oath to tell the truth.

The Vice President, however, refused to take her oath during the committee on good government and public accountability hearing last September 18, saying she was not a witness but a mere resource person.

READ: VP Sara Duterte refuses to take oath at House hearing

Expenses made by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) under Duterte have been scrutinized following the Commission on Audit’s (COA) report on irregularities.

The COA issued a notice of disallowance on P73.2 million of the OVP’s P125-million confidential fund (CF) for 2022 — an item which several lawmakers said should not be available in the first place, as the original budget crafted during the time of former Vice President Leni Robredo did not have this item.

READ: Sara Duterte’s confidential fund spending raises new, more doubts 

Regarding DepEd, there have been questions about the low number of classrooms constructed while Duterte was education secretary. Eventually, it was revealed that the DepEd under Duterte supposedly made it seem that their CFs were used for a youth training program when it was the Armed Forces of the Philippines and local government units that shouldered the expenses.

READ: DepEd under Duterte makes it seem it’s funding AFP training – solon

There are also fears that fictitious personalities — such as a certain Mary Grace Piattos — were used to authenticate the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) of the OVP’s expenditures, particularly those involving CFs.

Last November 5, Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop pointed out to the COA that several of the ARs were signed by Piattos, whose first name is similar to a coffee shop while her last name is a famous potato chip brand.

READ: P1-M reward for information on Mary Grace Piattos – House lawmakers