School principal’s case prompts lawyer to join House prosecution team

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan joined the House of Representatives team as a private prosecutor for the forthcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte – because he was so moved by the case of a public school principal in Virac, Catanduanes.

“What really motivated me to join the private prosecution team is the story of a school principal who was ordered to be imprisoned for 11 years for pocketing P5,000,” Ligutan told a news conference Thursday.

“If we can send to jail somebody for pocketing P5,000 for 11 years, why can’t we remove from office the sitting vice president for misusing millions of pesos of public funds?” he added.

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The lead House prosecutor, Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro, who chairs the chamber’s committee on justice, introduced private prosecutors who would assist her team in the trial.

In February last year, the Sandiganbayan found the public school principal guilty of malversation and falsification as defined under the Revised Penal Code.

Aside from imprisonment, the anti-graft court imposed a fine on the teacher.

According to court records, the principal falsified a sales invoice to make it appear that her school purchased 28 bags of cement amounting to P7,000 when only eight bags costing P2,000 were actually bought.

In its decision, the Sandiganbayan held that the principal failed to account for the missing P5,000, which was part of the financial assistance provided to the school by the Catanduanes provincial government.

Duterte is facing four impeachment charges or articles of impeachment, including her alleged misuse of more than P600 million in confidential and intelligence funds the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) received when she was education secretary.

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The Commission on Audit (COA) had found that P125 million of such funds was used in just 11 days, a huge part of which for purposes auditors considered questionable.

Of the P125 million, the COA had disallowed P73 million, which it has asked the Vice President and other responsible officials to return to the government.

Sara Duterte is also accused of bribing DepEd officials involved in the processing and use of the agency’s confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs).

Additionally, the audit commission has flagged millions of other suspicious expenditures of such funds by OVP. /atm