Solon: VP Sara needs to take responsibility for disbursing issue

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte should take responsibility for the confidential fund (CF) disbursing issue within the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun said on Tuesday.

Khonghun in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex said that while special disbursing officers (SDOs) of both OVP and DepEd have clearly violated guidelines set for disbursement of CFs, Duterte must be held accountable too due to command responsibility.

According to Khonghun, the SDOs only followed the Vice President’s orders to leave the disbursement of CFs to security officials detailed at the OVP.

READ: OVP exec: I left secret funds to security head as per VP Sara’s order

“Nakita natin na merong pagkukulang, lalong-lalo na ’yong ating mga disbursing officers, nakita natin na nagkulang sila sa pag-iingat ng pera ng ating pahamahalaan. At sa huli, it is a command responsibility, at talagang nakikita naman natin na lahat sila ay sumusunod lamang sa utos ng ating Bise Presidente,” he said.

READ: Security officer picked by VP Duterte disbursed confidential funds

“So sa huli, kung may makitang mga paglabag sa batas, kung may makitang kailangan may managot, kailangan akuhin ng ating Bise Presidente ang pananagutan dito sa pagkukulang,” he added.

READ: Solon: SDO’s move to give up fund release role may lead to malversation

Khonghun’s statements came a day after both Gina Acosta and Edward Fajarda—SDOs for OVP and DepEd, respectively—admitted that they left the role of disbursing confidential funds to two security officials.

Acosta said she ceded her functions to Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) chief Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, while Fajarda left it with Col. Dennis Nolasco.

Both said that they did this upon the instructions of the Vice President.

Earlier, Khonghun’s fellow Young Guns member and 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said that even if the CF of both agencies reached its intended program and beneficiaries, the fact that the SDOs admitted that security officials were behind the disbursements can be considered technical malversation.

Asked if having the military officials act as SDOs would have cured the issue—since the SDOs claim that the colonels were the one knowledgeable of how to spend the CFs—Gutierrez said this would still not be the case.

According to Gutierrez, the functions of the OVP and the DepEd are civilian while Lachica and Nolasco are both military officials, and are not part of the two offices.

“Well, for one po, it was mentioned by the COA (Commission on Audit) that it is possible to assign other SDOs. It would have cured probably. But the problem is, they’re still not from that office,” Gutierrez said.

“I don’t think, for example, the agency, the funds are with the OVP, the SDOs should be from the OVP too. So just with that, even if they did make it, I don’t know if you could even make security personnel from a different agency an SDO,” he added. “So I don’t think it would have cured it.”

Aside from disbursement issues, the House panel discussed possible irregularities within the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for the CF disbursements. Last November 20, the committee unearthed another possible anomaly as there were two different ARs signed by a single person, but showed different handwriting and signature styles.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs for CFs—one for the OVP and one for DepEd—which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.

For the OVP’s CF expenditures, Villamin signed the AR 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.

Then at another hearing last November 5, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop pointed out to COA 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.