There is no assurance that Vice President Sara Duterte will attend the Nov. 20 hearing of the House good government committee despite personally receiving an invitation when she went to the House of Representatives.
Vice President Sara Duterte (center) receives the invitation from the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability while attending the quad-comm hearing on extrajudicial killings. (House of Representatives)
The House panel is currently looking into the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) alleged misuse of public funds.
The official was asked on Wednesday, Nov. 13, about attending the House inquiry next week if she’s invited, but she said her attendance will depend on the line of questioning of the committee members.
“Well, it depends on their questions. I have been asking them what legislation are they trying to achieve,” she told the media in Filipino.
“Hanggang ngayon, wala sila sinasabi kung ano ‘yung (Until now, they haven’t said what’s) in aid of legislation,” Duterte added.
Duterte and her OVP officials have both published a position paper on why they chose to skip the previous committee hearings.
In it, they questioned the legislation being pursued by the committee, as well as its jurisdiction in conducting inquiries about the agency’s budget when it was already taken up by the House Committee on Appropriations.
The Vice President said that she hasn’t been invited to the committee hearings since the first one she attended in September, where she castigated lawmakers for what she called a political persecution.
“They haven’t been inviting me. The last time was the first hearing. Then, after that, I have not received invitations from the good governance committee,” she added.
But on Wednesday, the committee secretary of the good government panel personally handed the invitation to Duterte to attend the Nov. 20 hearing when she surprisingly attended the quad committee hearing where her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was standing as a resource person.
The Vice President officially received the one-page document by signing it.
“Your presence is necessary to provide clarifications on the Office of the Vice President’s budget utilization from your assumption of office in 2022 up to present, including questions on the projects/programs and/or beneficiaries of said projects/programs of your honorable office, regular and confidential funds, and other related matters,” the letter read.