1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

A ranking congressman has underscored the sheer "physical impossibility" of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education's (DepEd) claim that up to P37.5 million were disbursed in scattered locations from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in just one day. 

Assistant Minority Leader 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez brought up before a House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 20 the questionable disbursement patterns by special disbursing officers (SDOs) from the OVP and DepEd involving confidential funds.  

The"Young Guns" bloc member noted instances where SDOs Gina Acosta from the OVP and Edward Fajarda from DepEd. allegedly distributed confidential funds across multiple, geographically distant locations in a single day. 

Both SDOs are reportedly trusted aides of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is the certral figure of the good government panel inquiry on confidential funds misuse. Duterte did not attend Wednesday's hearng.

“There is the physical impossibility of the delivery and encashment of the cash. And now even the physical impossibility of the disbursement,” Gutierrez said. 

Gutierrez cited records showing that Fajarda reportedly disbursed funds in seven different locations across the country just one day after encashing a P37.5-million check. 

“On Feb. 21, 2023, or the very next day after the SDO encashed the P37.5 million in checks, lumabas po sa [ARs] (the ARs indicate) that SDO Fajarda made seven disbursements already,” he said. 

“This is the day after—in seven different locations: Malolos, Davao, San Francisco (Agusan del Sur), Makati City, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and Davao City,” he said, as he questioned the feasibility of such rapid movements. 

“The check was issued and encashed in Land Bank under the DepEd branch in Pasig. And immediately the next day, he traveled to these seven places and had these seven ARs. Did this not raise a red flag of the impossibility of this occurring?” Gutierrez asked lawyer Gloria Camora, the attending resource person from the Commission on Audit (COA). 

The rookie lawmaker then pointed to a more incredible example from March 15, 2023, when Fajarda allegedly made 26 disbursements all over the country in a single day. 

“On March 15, 2023, SDO Fajarda supposedly made 26 disbursements in the following locations: Davao del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Oriental Mindoro, Laguna, Zamboanga del Sur, Cebu, Ifugao, Antique, Batanes, Pampanga, Legazpi, Lanao del Norte, Batangas, Tarlac, Metro Manila, Samar, Davao de Oro, Agusan del Norte, Cavite, and Surigao del Norte,” he said. 

“Atty. Camora, even if we gave him (Fajarda) a helicopter, I don’t think he could do that in one day,” Gutierrez stressed. 

The 1-Rider solon also expressed disbelief over Fajarda’s certification of the transactions. 

“It really raises the question: How did SDO Fajarda certify and say that he personally disbursed this? From north to south, tip to tip ito ng Pilipinas—may Batanes pa rin po (there is also Batanes). These are the questions that we have,” he said. 

Fajarda and Acosta have never appeared in any of the six hearings conducted by the committee, including Wednesday's proceedings. Their repeated absences led to their being cited in contempt, with the committee also issuing arrest orders against them. 

Vice President Duterte served as DepEd secretary from June 30, 2022 to July 19, 2024.