No PSA records on 405 recipients in VP’s documents

PInquirer file/Stock image

MANILA, Philippines — As the House of Representatives closed its inquiry into Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds, the committee on good government and public accountability was still presented with new information on Monday.

Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Manila Rep. Joel Chua, the good government panel chair, said in his opening remarks that 405 of 677 alleged recipients of the confidential funds of the Department of Education (DepEd) last year “had no birth certificate or no record of birth or what we could say are non-existent.”

READ: PSA verifying more names on OVP receipts for secret fund expenditures

The committee’s initial report would include the result of the PSA’s verification of these supposed recipients, Chua said.

The report would also enumerate the criminal violations—at least five of them such as plunder, technical malversation, falsification, bribery, and perjury—that could be filed against Duterte and her aides in the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd during her two-year tenure as education secretary.

Duterte, in an interview with GMA News TV in Davao City on Monday, said “I welcome that they finally filed the impeachment case that they have been saying they will file since last year.”

Measures based on inquiry

Chua said the panel is considering at least two draft measures based on its inquiry: one that would regulate the allocation and use of confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) and impose penalties for their misuse; and another that would regulate the duties and responsibilities of special disbursing officers (SDOs) and impose penalties for misappropriation.

He explained that the bills aim to fill the gaps in Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2015-01 which contains the guidelines governing CIFs.

Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, panel vice chair, pointed out that what initially prompted the inquiry into the confidential funds of the OVP was an accomplishment report submitted to the Commission on Audit indicating that part of the allocation—instead of its regular budget—was used in the purchase of some P82 million worth of medical and food aid in 2023, without undergoing the regular procurement and distribution process.

Acop noted that in the course of the committee’s seven hearings, OVP SDO Gina Acosta and her counterpart in DepEd, Edward Fajarda, testified that the “Vice President directly instructed them to hand over the cash representing the confidential funds to certain ‘security officers.’” (See main story on this page.)

Possible charges

Meanwhile three lawmakers, Assistant Majority Leader Raul Angelo Bongalon, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, enumerated offenses ranging from plunder and technical malversation to falsification, bribery, and perjury, which could be filed against OVP and DepEd officials.

Bongalon said that technical malversation was likely committed where an “accountable officer applies public funds to another purpose.”

For Luistro, the officers involved can be charged with plunder if they continue to fail to explain where the confidential funds went, while Pimentel said that falsification of public documents could apply to the submission of acknowledgment receipts indicating non-existent names. —with a report from Dempsey Reyes