Ombudsman: VP must answer House corruption allegations
The Office of the Ombudsman has directed Vice President Sara Duterte to submit a counteraffidavit in answer to allegations that she misused the confidential funds of her office and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she headed as secretary until her resignation in July 2024.
The allegations were contained in a June 10 report by the committee on good government of the House of Representatives, which was passed on to the government’s chief antigraft prosecutor on June 16, with a recommendation to prosecute Duterte and several of her former subordinates on serious criminal charges.
10 days to respond
Ombudsman Samuel Martires told the Inquirer that it was “true” that there was a four-page order dated June 19 which had circulated on social media as reported by GMA News.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said it received a copy of the order on Friday morning.
The order, signed by Assistant Ombudsman Nellie Golez, gave Duterte and several of her former subordinates in the OVP and DepEd 10 days to respond to the allegations.
DepEd officials tagged
The Office of the Ombudsman and the OVP refused to provide a copy of the order to the media. A media officer of the Vice President said it was “restricted.”
The ex-DepEd officials named in the order included Edward Fajarda, who was the special disbursing officer; his wife Sunshine Fajarda, who was an assistant secretary; and retired Maj. Gen. Nolasco Mempin and Annalyn Sevilla, both former undersecretaries; and Gina Acosta, a former special disbursing officer at the OVP.
After its investigation, the House good government panel recommended that Duterte and the other officials be charged with technical malversation, falsification and use of falsified documents, perjury, bribery and corruption, plunder, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Committee as complainant
The committee said up to P625 million in confidential funds from her two offices were allegedly misused—P500 million from the OVP and P125 million from DepEd.
The Ombudsman’s order named the House committee on good government and public accountability led by Manila Rep. Joel Chua as the complainant.
House spokesperson Princess Abante, however, clarified that the committee did not file a complaint but simply forwarded its final report on its five-month inquiry with a recommendation to prosecute.
Abante said at a press conference that “it appears that the Ombudsman acted upon the recommendation of the committee,”
“The plenary adopted the report of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on June 10. And the committee report was furnished to the Ombudsman … they received it on June 16,” Abante said.
She added that the Ombudsman had the power to act on its own.
Asked whether the House was concerned that the Ombudsman might dismiss the committee’s findings before the Senate could proceed with Duterte’s impeachment trial, Abante expressed her trust in the report.
“I believe that when they made that recommendation, they had sufficient evidence to make that recommendation from the hearings that they conducted. So, I will leave it at that,” she said.
Technical malversation
The House panel alleged that the confidential funds were used for purposes other than what the law intended and that documents were falsified as cover for “ghost” or fictitious beneficiaries.
Charges of technical malversation were recommended for Duterte, Acosta, and Edward Fajarda for using the funds for purposes other than confidential activities.
Duterte and Acosta also face charges of perjury for notarizing certification that the funds were used for necessary and legal purposes related to the agency’s confidential activities.
Duterte, Fajarda and other DepEd officials, including Fajarda’s wife, were also charged with bribery and corruption for offering money other than salaries to DepEd employees.
‘Designated officers’
The panel also noted that the OVP had “designated officers’” in Duterte’s security detail who were made to handle confidential funds despite lacking the authority to do so.
Acosta and Fajarda had admitted during the committee hearings that they handed over at least P120 million in confidential funds in 2022 to security officers at the Vice President’s behest.
Plunder charges were recommended against Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, former commander of the defunct Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, and Mempin for allegedly “amassing at least 50 million in public funds” on top of the “misused” confidential funds.
Her other legal battles
Aside from the Ombudsman’s order, which could lead to a full-blown criminal case, and the impeachment trial, Duterte is facing inciting sedition and grave threats complaints filed in the Department of Justice by the National Bureau of Investigation.
The NBI’s complaints were in connection with Duterte’s public disclosure that she had contracted someone to assassinate President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez should an alleged plot to kill her succeed.
Duterte has petitioned the Supreme Court to block the impeachment complaint, which alleged betrayal of public trust and other high crimes and signed by more than 200 members of the House, and to stop the Senate from trying her.
Despite this, she has said she was eager for a trial because she wanted a “bloodbath.” She also said she agreed with 88 percent of Filipinos who were polled who said they wanted her to be tried by the Senate. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
