VP Sara Duterte Ordered by Ombudsman To Respond To House Complaint over Alleged Misuse of Confidential Funds
The House of Representatives recommended to the Ombudsman the filing of charges against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The lower chamber conducted several hearings on the alleged misuse of the Confidential Funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as well as the Department of Education’s when Vice Pres. Sara Duterte was the DepEd secretary. Countless Filipinos were also left in doubt as to the spending of P112.5 million Confidential Funds of the OVP in just 11 days.
Last February 5, the House of Representatives impeached Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. More than two-thirds of the members of the lower chamber signed the impeachment rap against the Vice President. It was transmitted to the Senate which recently convened as an impeachment court.
However, shortly after Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero and the rest of the senators took their oath as the presiding officer and senator judges of the impeachment court in Duterte’s trial, they voted to remand the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte to the lower chamber. The Vice President was sent summons as Escudero asserted that the remand does not mean a dismissal of the case.
The Senate assured that the impeachment process of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte will push through even without her response to the summons. Aside from impeaching the Vice President, the House of Representatives also asked the Ombudsman to file charges against Duterte.
The House recommended the filing of plunder, technical malversation, bribery, and corruption charges against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a report on PhilStar, the Ombudsman ordered the Vice President and nine (9) other officials of the OVP and the DepEd to respond to the complaint submitted by the lower chamber.
The other DepEd and OVP officials accused are the following:
- OVP chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez
- DepEd special disbursing officer Gina Acosta
- DepEd special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda
- DepEd assistant secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda, director for Strategic Management Office
- retired Maj. Gen. Nolasco Mempin, undersecretary for Administration
- Annalyn Sevilla, undersecretary for Finance Service
- assistant secretary and assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio
- Lt. Col. Dennis Nolasco and Col. Raymund Dante Lachia of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group
Based on the report, in the order of the Ombudsman signed by special panel of investigators chairperson assistant ombudsman Nellie Boguen-Golez, it is stated that “failure to file counter-affidavit within the aforesaid period shall be deemed as waiver of respondents’ right to submit controverting evidence and the preliminary investigation shall proceed accordingly”. It was also stated that no motion for dismissal will be entertained.
The Office of the Vice President confirmed receiving the order of the Ombudsman over the recommendation of the House to file charges against Duterte for the alleged misuse of Confidential Funds. The accused are given 10 days to file their counter-affidavit.
Recently, some senators-elect expressed their standpoints on the impeachment process against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Senator-elect Erwin Tulfo believes that Duterte’s impeachment trial should cross the 20th Congress.