Four OVP execs cited for contempt show up at House hearing

MANILA, Philippines — The four Office of the Vice President (OVP) officials cited for contempt by the House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability showed up at Monday’s hearing after shunning past invitations.

During the hearing, the committee secretariat confirmed that the following OVP officials were inside the hearing room:

• Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio – Assistant Chief of Staff and Chair of the Bids and Awards Committee
• Gina Acosta – Special Disbursing Officer (SDO)
• Sunshine Fajarda – former Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary
• Edward Fajarda – former DepEd official

“From the Office of the Vice President we have present today Mr. Edward Fajarda, with the OVP, and former SDO of DepEd; Atty. Sunshine Fajarda, former assistant secretary of DepEd and now with the Office of the Vice President; Mr. Lemuel Ortionio, Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief-of-Staff […] Ms. Gina Acosta, special disbursing officer,” the committee secretariat said.

The attendance of the four officials came after committee chairperson and Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua said that the resource persons sent feelers that they would show up at the hearing.

“May feeler na darating ‘yong apat, so hopefully, ‘yon ang aantayin natin kung totoong darating […] so hopefully kung dumating sila ngayon, so at least eh panibagong sitwasyon ‘yon,” he noted.

(There was a feeler that the four officials would be here, so hopefully, that is what we will anticipate.  So hopefully if they show up today, that’s a new situation.)

Last November 11, the four OVP officials were cited for contempt upon the motion of Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop, for their “continued defiance” of invitations and summons.

The four officials’ presence is believed to be key for the committee’s investigation regarding the alleged misuse of public funds by offices under Vice President Sara Duterte — the OVP and, previously, the Department of Education (DepEd).

Lawmakers think all four would be able to shed light on the issues involving acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for confidential fund (CF) expenditures made by the OVP and DepEd, as there were instances wherein the CF was received by the same person but were signed differently.

Last November 20, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another from DepEd — which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.

Villamin signed the AR for the OVP’s CF expenditures last September 17, 2023. 

The AR for the DepEd’s CF expenses did not show a date, but it was also signed by Villamin, who appears to be from Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental. 

Villamin’s signature on the OVP AR was longer than the one on the DepEd AR.

Before this, the OVP was also called out for problems regarding its ARs.  During the committee’s previous hearing last November 5, Acop pointed out that several of the ARs were signed by a certain Mary Grace Piattos — which he said bears a first name similar to a coffee shop, while her last name is a famous potato chip brand.

The ARs signed off by Piattos were part of the liquidation reports discussed during the same hearing, referring to the P23.8 million confidential funds covered by 158 receipts.