Former president Rodrigo Duterte (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (MANILA BULLETIN)

Vice President Sara Duterte’s supposed “shielding” of her close aides from appearing before a House of Representatives panel is a “pattern” previously exhibited by her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

This is according to Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez, who says the elder Duterte’s traits and behavior are now being “manifested” on the Vice President.

“I think the father and daughter have the same kind of personality, shielding their own people,” said Fernandez in a press conference on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

“Why? Si VP Sara na nakita natin how she protected yung mga tao niya (We saw VP Sara how she protected her people) by not letting them to attend the hearing,” he added.

The lawmaker is referring to the repeated snubbing of four Office of the Vice President (OVP) officials of the inquiry of the House Committee of Good Government and Public Accountability.

The panel, headed by Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, is investigating the alleged misuse of confidential funds under OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Vice President Duterte’s tenure as secretary.

On Monday, Chua’s committee cited in contempt the four OVP officials and ordered their detention over their refusal to comply with prior orders to appear.

They are Assistant Chief of Staff and Chairperson of the Bids and Awards committee Lemuel Ortonio, Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Gina Acosta, former Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda, and SDO Edward Fajarda.

In a press conference, also on Monday, the Vice President said her staff were busy preparing for the OVP’s 89th anniversary on Nov. 15.

“I have no qualms if they’re trying to dismantle me. My problem is they’re dragging people into their agenda when all they’ve ever done is to work at the OVP,” said Duterte.

According to Fernandez, Duterte “shielded” the officials by preventing their appearance in the panel.

He said this reminded him of how former president Duterte claimed that he alone had “full responsibility” for the conduct of the bloody war on drugs.

While it is uncertain what the Vice President’s next step will be, Fernandez pointed out that her father’s promise seems to have already fallen on deaf ears.

The Laguna solon noted that a plethora of police officers, who were in the forefront of the previous administration’s anti-drug campaign, are still facing legal challenges that threaten their livelihood.

“I think yung pronouncement ng Presidente that siya po ang sasagot sa lahat ng problems nung mga lower ranks sa atin pong kapulisan para atang hindi po nangyayari,” he said.

(I think the President's pronouncement that he is the one who will answer all the problems of the lower ranks of our police force so that it is not happening.)

Cover-up

 Monday’s hearing, only four of the nine summoned OVP officials attended the House probe.

These four officials, according to Chua, are career officials of the OVP and not directly concerned on the issue of confidential funds.

“Yung mga talaga pong officials na directly involved dito eh parang pilit po nilang hindi pinararating. Parang nagkakaroon po ng cover-up dito po sa issue na ito,” he said.

(The actual officials who are directly involved seem to be forced to not appear. It seems like there is a cover-up here on this issue.)

Chua noted that this “cover-up” started at the beginning of the hearings given that his panel had invited the OVP officials five times already.

He said the inquiry is particularly waiting for the appearance of SDO Acosta and Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, noting their direct involvement in the control of the OVP’s confidential funds, as revealed in a previous hearing.

Notably, both Acosta and Lopez served as Duterte’s staff during her tenure as Davao City mayor.

‘Davao model’

Zambales 1st district Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, a vice chairperson of the Good Government Committee, can’t help but notice that the Vice President is following another pattern of the elder Duterte.

Khonghun said the so-called “Davao model”, which implemented a slay-for-pay system during the war on Drugs, was a similar scheme to that of the lady Duterte’s usage of confidential funds.

“Kung may Davao model sa EJKs (extrajudicial killings, may Davao model din sa pagastos ng confidential fund,” the congressman stressed.

(If there is a Davao model in EJKs, there is also a Davao model in spending the confidential fund.)

“Nakikita natin yung pattern ng mag-ama, nakikita natin yung pattern na kanilang ginagawa patungkol sa extrajudicial killing at saka kung paano nila ginagastos yung confidential fund,” he continued.

(We see the pattern of the father and the daughter, we see the pattern they do with regard to extrajudicial killing and how they spend the confidential fund.)

Records have shown that Davao City’s confidential funds steadily increased from P144 million in 2016 to P460 million annually between 2019 and 2022.

Former president Duterte served from 2016 to 2022. During this period, his daughter was simultaneously serving as the mayor of Davao City.

“So, kung papaano nila ginastos yung confidential fund ng DepEd at [OVP], binabase rin nila sa Davao model,” said Khonghun.

(So, how they spent the confidential fund of DepEd and OVP, they also based it on the Davao model.)