VP vows to face House panel anew

TENSION IN THE HOUSE Vice President Sara Duterte raises a point during her participation at a Nov. 26 hearing by the House committee on good government and public accountability. —House of Representatives photo

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte said over the weekend that she would attend the next hearing of a House of Representatives panel looking into the alleged misuse of funds, including millions in confidential funds, by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education.

Duterte answered in the affirmative when asked whether she would be present in the inquiry by the House committee on good government and public accountability, adding: “Three resource persons [summoned] from the OVP expressed that they feel safer and calmer if I’m there.”

No date has been scheduled yet for the next hearing.

READ: Despite scrapped House hearing, Sara still no-show at NBI

She also pushed back against lawmakers and called them out for “terrorizing” her and the OVP personnel.

“First of all, the presidency of 2022 was mine already,” Duterte told reporters on Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

She was responding to a query about Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun’s statement that what transpired the past week would not have happened if it wasn’t for her rage during a midnight press conference.

She reminded Khonghun that she “gave it (the presidency) away” for others, or in this case, for her running mate Ferdinand Marcos Jr., now President.

Duterte said she had “other matters” to attend to that she deemed more important than being president.

“Second of all, I never asked them to launch an investigation against me that has turned out into a political persecution,” Duterte said in Filipino.

“They keep saying that I started this chaos, but it’s not me at all; this chaos would not have started if not for their terrorism against me and the OVP personnel,” she added.

Duterte, however, could not categorically say whether she would show up at the inquiry of the National Bureau of Investigation reset to Dec. 11. She earlier requested the probe’s postponement to a later date after she failed to show up last Friday.

The NBI issued a subpoena to Duterte last week over her statement that she contracted a hitman to kill Mr. Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez should an assassination plot against her succeed. —with reports from the Inquirer staff