Vice President Sara Duterte (Santi San Juan/MANILA BULLETIN)

Ranking members of the House of Representatives have disputed the claims of Vice President Sara Duterte that the ongoing probe into her alleged misuse of public funds is “politically motivated”, noting instead that it’s for the purpose of accountability.

Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, stressed that his panel’s investigation “is not about politics”.

“This is about accountability and transparency. Kung wala naman po talagang wrongdoings bakit po hindi po sila dumating at bakit hindi na lang po nila sagutin ang issue?” Chua said in a press conference on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

(If there really are no wrongdoings, why didn't they come and why didn't they just answer the issue?)

Chua’s panel, also referred to as the House Blue Ribbon Committee, is investigating the alleged misuse of P625 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) under Duterte’s tenure as secretary.

On Monday, the Vice President slammed the committee for “working to destroy the integrity of the OVP and its ordinary employees”.

“They have no evidence of wrongdoing. They are attempting to find fault through the hearings,” Duterte said in a press conference.

1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, a member of the so-called “Young Guns” bloc in the House, said it would be unfair to describe the panel’s intentions as merely political.

“It takes away the truth of the matter na ang hinahanap po natin ay (that what we are looking for is) transparency and accountability,” said Gutierrez.  

The young lawmaker also questioned the Vice President’s claim that her office has no “wrongdoing”.

He emphasized that the documentary evidence and testimony of witnesses in prior hearings made it appear that there is a “modus operandi” being conducted within her office.

“To say that there's no wrongdoing, I'm not sure. I could be mistaken. But in the history of our republic, I don't think the COA (Commission on Audit) has ever flagged yet a national agency for misuse of confidential and intelligence funds. This would be the first time,” said Gutierrez.

COA has earlier flagged nearly half of the confidential funds allotted to Duterte. It also disallowed P73 million spent by the OVP within an 11-day period in the last quarter of 2022.

Zambales 1st district Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, a vice chairperson of the Good Government Committee, underscored that the ongoing inquiry is only for the pursuit of the truth.

Khonghun speculated that the OVP, as well as DepEd under Duterte, were not ready for a deep scrutiny into their utilization of funds. This, he said, prompted accusations of the probe being “politically motivated”.

“Tandaan natin, pera yan ng gobyerno, pera yan ng mamamayan. Kailangan merong transparency at kailangan may accountability,” the congressman said.

(Let's remember, that's the government's money, that's the people's money. There must be transparency and there must be accountability)

“And VP Sara should be accountable kung ano ‘yung ginawa nila sa [OVP] patungkol sa confidential fund at sa bilang secretary ng [DepEd] sa confidential fund ng DepEd,” he added.

(And VP Sara should be accountable for what they did to OVP regarding the confidential fund and as secretary of DepEd to the confidential fund of DepEd.)