It will be a no-man-left-behind scenario for six officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as Vice President Sara Duterte herself said she’s willing to get detained with them whether or not they decide to attend a House panel’s inquiry into her office’s alleged misused funds.
Vice President Sara Duterte speaks before the media in a sit-down interview on Oct. 18, 2024. (Santi San Juan/MANILA BULLETIN)
“Basta sinabihan ko sila (I told them), I’ll be with you every step of the way. Sinabihan ko din sila, kung desisyon mo magpa-detain, sasamahan kita duon sa loob ng detention. Walang problema ‘yan sa akin (I also told them that if you decide to get detained, I will join you inside the detention. That’s no problem to me),” she said during a press conference on Friday, Oct. 18.
The official added that not everybody is used to “pressure and stress” and being humiliated on national television.
Earlier, several OVP officials came out with a position paper, asking the House good government committee to end its inquiry into the OVP’s alleged misuse of public funds.
They maintained their decision not to attend the inquiry, despite a show cause order issued against some of them by the House committee.
But Duterte stressed that she’s not influencing the OVP executives in their decision to snub the hearings.
“Sinasabihan ko ‘yung mga tao na kapangalan kung ano iyong gusto mong gawin, iyon ang susuportahan ko. Kung ayaw mo umattend, susuportahan kita. Kung gusto mo umattend, susuportahan kita (I told those named in the subpoena that whatever you want to do, I will support you. If you don’t like to attend, I will support you. If you like to attend, I’ll support you),” she told reporters.
“Decide the path you’ll take, I will support you on that,” Duterte added.
The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability has been holding inquiries into the OVP’s budget utilization based on the privilege speech delivered by Manila 2nd district Rep. Rolando Valeriano last Sept. 3, wherein the lawmaker assailed the Vice President for her supposed failure to cooperate in inquiries on how her office utilized public funds.
In their position paper, the OVP officials called the hearing “unnecessary” and echoed Duterte's call to terminate the panel’s proceedings.
The OVP maintained that the panel’s inquiry was “not in aid of legislation.”
“It lacks clear legislative objective or contemplated legislation that is expected as an outcome of the deliberations. It has been the consistent position of the Office that a draft bill for consideration must at least be attached to the invitation for us to be informed of the aid that we can provide to the deliberations,” they said.
“In the same vein, this lack of clear legislative objective or outcome, right from the very referral and commencement of the deliberations, cannot ensure that discussions would be germane to the subject matter,” the officials added.