Vice President Sara Duterte faced lawmakers on Monday, Nov. 25, as the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability resumed its hearing into the confidential funds use of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her term.
Vice President Sara Duterte takes an oath to tell the truth during the House committee on good government's probe into the alleged misuse of her office's funds on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (PPAB/House of Representatives)
This marked only the second time that the official attended the committee hearing that’s looking into her offices’ use of the controversial confidential and intelligence funds.
“Dahil kailangan ko samahan sa house hearing iyong mga OVP personnel na nandoon (Because I need to be with the OVP personnel there at the House hearing),” she said during a press conference at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).
Duterte has been staying at the VMMC since this weekend to be with her chief-of-staff, OVP Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, who was first detained at the House custodial facility on Nov. 21 and then transferred to the VMMC after suffering from a panic attack when ordered to be at the Women’s Correctional Facility last Saturday.
On Monday, the Vice President took an oath, something that she rejected to do so during the first Sept. 18 hearing of the committee. This prompted lawmakers to properly recognize Duterte after they refused to ask her questions on Sept. 18 because of her failure to take an oath.
The official immediately confronted the panel for questioning how Lopez asked DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado to resign on the basis of her order after losing her trust and confidence on Mercado.
Mercado, who had been with government for 30 years, claimed that the Vice President, then DepEd’s secretary, gave her cash-filled envelopes.
“Ang sinasabi ko sa inyo bakit nyo kinukuwestiyon ang due process? Tanungin nyo ang appointing authority bakit niyo tinanggap ang resignation letter (What I’m asking you is why are you questioning due process? You should ask the appointing authority why the resignation letter was accepted),” she told lawmakers.
“The appointing authority is the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Why are you questioning due process in discussion of resignation of usecs (undersecretaries) and asecs (assistant secretaries)?,” the official asked.
But when Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua said that the inquiry hasn’t touched on that topic yet, Duterte questioned Lopez’s detention based on due process.
“Dinetain nyo na ‘yung tao for due process. Sir, nasa loob ng detention because you question due process. Nasaan ang explanation ang due process ninyo doon (You detained the person for due process. Sir, she’s in detention because you question due process. Where’s the explanation of due process there)?,” she asked.
Lopez was cited in contempt and detained after she admitted to writing the Commission on Audit (COA) not to heed the House committee’s subpoena of OVP audit reports.
The House committee extended her originally five-day detention period to 10 days.
Additionally, four OVP officials—lawyer Sunshine Fajarda, Edward Fajarda, Lemuel Ortonio, and Gina Acosta—who were the subject of a subpoena and were cited in contempt arrived at the House of Representatives this morning to attend the House good government committee hearing.
Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop, however, interrupted and told Duterte that “if you have any question in so far as the actions of this committee are concerned, as in the proper remedy is for you to go to the court.”
While the Vice President said “I will go to court,” she lamented that the committee is “depriving a person of her liberty while I await.”
“If our action of detailing your chief-of-staff is against the law, I think the proper remedy, and I think you are a lawyer, the proper remedy is go to the court,” Acop insisted.
Chua then asked the Vice President to respect the decision of the committee as a whole.
“Tinutulungan ko lang kayo, Sir, kasi napapahiya ang Pilipinas. Ganito ba ang House of Representatives (I am just helping you, Sir, because the Philippines is getting embarrassed. Is the House of Representatives like this)?,” she said.
During the hearing, Duterte expressed her dissatisfaction at how the OVP officials were supposedly being treated by lawmakers.
"Mr. Chair, wala kaming kakampi dito. Walang maka-point of order para sa amin (we have no allies here. We have no one to make a point of order for us,)" she said.
Deputy Speaker Jayjay Suarez moved to strike out Duterte's "unwarranted and unfair" comment about the House of Representatives.