Vice President Sara Duterte—NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — House of Representatives lawmakers fear that Vice President Sara Duterte’s pronouncements — that she will address issues thrown at her once the impeachment complaints against her are heard — might just be another “lip service.”
Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun in a press briefing on Monday noted that Duterte has had several chances to explain her side — like at the House hearings and before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) — but the Vice President skipped these.
“Again, it is another lip service of our Vice President, because we have seen that in the past, she had many chances to explain but she did not explain anything. Now, she is saying that she will explain things during the impeachment proceedings,” Khonghun said.
“But we saw that she snubbed the hearings in the Congress, she snubbed the NBI hearing, she did not attend, she did not show up, then she would say the proper venue is the impeachment no. So we cannot understand what our Vice President wants,” he added.
Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre agreed with Khonghun, saying that it seems Duterte does not respect the law.
“There have been many chances for the Vice President to explain and cooperate with investigations, not only in Congress but even with the NBI. But it seems like the Vice President has always made it a point to show that she’s above the law. It was like the law should apply to everyone except for herself,” Acidre said.
“We welcome it in the spirit of Christmas. We look forward to it because […] if VP Sara would really want to answer to the impeachment, it is her obligation to answer it. As we say, public office is a public trust. It does not depend on our decision to answer questions from the people. It is our obligation to be accountable to the people’s concerns.,” he added.
Duterte previously said that the proceedings of the impeachment complaint against her may be an avenue to address accusations against her.
While it may be an inconvenience, the Vice President said that she does not see any problem with that because she can answer the queries.
However, the lawmakers are referring to Duterte’s numerous absences in House discussions, tracing from the hearings of the committee on appropriations when the Office of the Vice President budget was being scrutinized, and then the committee on good government which was probing alleged anomalous confidential fund (CF) expenditures.
READ: VP Sara skips House hearing on 2025 OVP budget, sends letter instead
So far, Duterte only attended the first appropriations hearing last August 27, and the first and seventh hearing of the good government panel.
READ: Sara Duterte takes oath to tell truth at OVP fund probe
Recently, Duterte also did not show up before the NBI, which was probing her alleged threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
The supposed threats came during an online briefing last November 23, where the Vice President — during the heat of her chief-of-staff’s detention at the House — said that she has already contacted someone to kill the three in case she gets killed.
Duterte however denied making threats.
READ: VP Duterte skips NBI probe, denies making threats in letter
Different issues surround OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), particularly regarding CF utilization. Previously, it was revealed that one of the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for CF disbursement was signed by a Mary Grace Piattos — which Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop noted was a combined name of a famous coffee shop and a potato chips brand.
Eventually, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two CF ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin. However, the signatures and handwriting of Villamin differed.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) then said that the names Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin do not exist within their live birth, marriage, and death registry. Furthermore, PSA said that they have no records of the more than 400 names on the ARs for the DepEd’s CFs.
These issues were used as the basis for two impeachment complaints filed by two groups against Duterte.