2nd complaint presses VP on P125M spent in 11 days

Vice President Sara Duterte —Inquirer file photo/Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — Accusing Vice President Sara Duterte of committing what they described as the highest form of treachery through betrayal of public trust by misusing and abusing confidential funds amounting to P612.5 million, 74 members of progressive groups filed the second impeachment complaint against her on Wednesday.

The core of their complaint was her 11-day spending spree of P125 million of the secret funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2022.

READ: Impeachment rap filed vs Sara Duterte gets Akbayan backing

One of the complainants, former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, said in a news conference that they focused on betrayal of public trust, one of the six grounds for impeachment under the 1987 Constitution, in their 45-page complaint because “it’s all-encompassing, and for us would be the fastest way to resolve the case.”

“Betrayal of public trust is one of the highest, if not the highest treachery by a public official. That’s why we chose it,” he said.

The other impeachable offenses are culpable violations of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

The members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, who initiated the move to obtain audit reports from the Commission on Audit (COA) on the confidential funds of the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), endorsed the impeachment complaint.

The 74 complainants included youth leaders, health-care and government workers, as well as members of religious, women, LGBTQ+, public transport, lawyers, artists, farmers, fisherfolk, peasant, human rights and other advocacy groups, and relatives of victims of the drug war.

According to the complaint, Duterte showed her betrayal of public trust with her alleged gross abuse of discretionary powers over P612.5 million in confidential funds; gross disregard of transparency and accountability; making a “mockery” of the audit process; and dereliction of official duty by her “willful refusal” to recognize congressional oversight during budget deliberations and its authority to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.

The kernel of public betrayal was the complete disbursement of the OVP’s confidential funds of P125 million in just 11 days—from Dec. 20 to Dec. 31, 2022—or more than P11.3 million of the people’s money a day.

The COA found that the OVP submitted deficient acknowledgment receipts and other documents to justify the expenditure of about P73 million, issuing a notice of disallowance for more than half of the total amount of that year’s confidential funds.

In addition, the complaint cited the unexplained disbursement of the OVP’s P375-million confidential funds and DepEd’s P112.5 million, both in the first three quarters of 2023, as well as Duterte’s reluctance to account for them during a House inquiry.

In all, the OVP was allocated P500 million and DepEd P150 million in confidential funds in 2023.

But because the OVP and DepEd were not directly mandated with national security and law enforcement tasks, these were totally scrapped in the 2024 budget. This move by the House led by Speaker Martin Romualdez was resented by Duterte.

‘Not worthy of people’s trust’

The complainants said the Constitution “does not permit such cynical disregard for public trust.”

“It does not allow the Vice President to treat public funds as a personal war chest while stonewalling all attempts at oversight,” they said.

Makabayan member and Deputy Minority Leader France Castro pointed to the allegedly fabricated acknowledgment receipts and accomplishment reports in the OVP’s justification for spending its 2022 confidential funds as evidence against Duterte.

“This is enough reason to say that [Duterte] is not worthy of our trust. She is not worthy of the people’s trust,” the ACT Teachers party list representative said.

Another complainant, former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, said Congress could fast-track the process if it wanted to.

He expressed confidence in the strength of their arguments in the complaint, which only consisted of one ground and three acts.

“That’s also one reason we focused our complaint [on betrayal of public trust] because there is that factor that we’re pressed for time,” he pointed out.

Acting on the impeachment complaint was a chance for Congress to “show that it is independent, that there is a system of checks and balances,” in relation to President Marcos’ call to set aside impeachment moves against Duterte, he said.

“Actually, this impeachment complaint is a challenge to Congress to show its independence, that it can stand on the side of the people,” Casiño said.

Colmenares, who was a prosecutor in the impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012, said that that impeachment process took four months because there were four grounds and eight acts cited.

In citing only one ground, he said that he expected the process to be faster. “Maybe the trial in the Senate could be done in one month, if the impeachment complaint moves forward,” he said.

The first impeachment complaint filed last Monday by 16 members of other civil society groups and endorsed by Akbayan party list Rep. Percival Cendaña, cited 24 specific charges on five grounds against Duterte—culpable violation of the Constitution; graft and corruption, bribery, and illegal wealth accumulation; betrayal of public trust, particularly abandoning her duties during a supertyphoon and leaving for Germany and failure to condemn Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea; and high crimes.

Beheading, assassinating

As in the second impeachment, the first one also cited the Vice President’s failure to account for the P612.5 million in confidential funds spent by the OVP and DepEd when she was the education secretary.

The complainants also cited her two separate press conferences in October, when she said she imagined herself beheading the President, and in November when she said she had contracted someone to assassinate Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Romualdez if an alleged plot to kill her succeeds.

At least one-third of the House members, or around 108, must vote in favor of the impeachment complaint before it could be transmitted to the Senate, where the senators would convene as an impeachment court.

A conviction requires approval of two-thirds of the 23-member chamber. The Senate could oust Duterte from her position and disqualify her from holding public office if convicted.

‘Fellowship’ night

Hours after the second impeachment complaint was filed, scores of House members gathered at Malacañang for what the Presidential Communications Office said was a “fellowship” night that had been scheduled “some time ago.”

No media coverage was allowed.

Castro told the Inquirer that all the House members were invited, but the Makabayan bloc chose not to join the party.

A House staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for not being authorized to speak on the matter, said about 200 attended. The Speaker was to present a resolution adopted by the House to the President reaffirming support for his administration.

Marcos had said that he did not want the House and the Senate to “waste” their time with any impeachment, saying the Vice President was “unimportant” and not a single Filipino would benefit from the process. —with reports from Melvin Gascon