Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

It's too early to say whether or not the Commission on Audit's (COA) findings on the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) usage of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) could serve as a ground to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte. 

Ranking congressmen had this to say as the Vice President continued to insist that the House of Representatives was cooking an impeachment plot against her. 

Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin, Assistant Majority Leader Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, and Assistant Minority Leader 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez all think that linking the COA findings to the alleged impeachment is neither here nor there. 

Last week, the House Committee on Appropriations approved a motion from Makabayan solon, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro to subpoena COA’s report on the utilization of the OVP's CIF from 2022 to 2023. 

“Let's cross the bridge when it comes. Sa pananaw ko, ang intention ay hindi na maulit kung saka-sakali meron talagang misuse ng confidential fund,” Garin said during the press conference Wednesday, Aug. 21 at the House of Representatives. 

(In my view, the intention was to prevent a repeat of the misuse of confidential fund, if there really was a misuse.) 

It can be recalled that last year, COA reported that the OVP spent P125 million in CIF in just 11 days, which translates to around P11 million spent per day. 

The Vice President corrected the information and said the money was spent in 19 days or from Dec. 13 to 31, 2022. This didn't stop people's eyebrows from raising over the rate of fund usage. 

For Adiong, focusing on an impeachment process without clear grounds would undermine the significant legislative work being done in the House of Representatives. 

“Based on your question, there’s currently no indication that would lead to that kind of exercise," he said in response to a media query. 

READ THIS TOO: 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/21/magkaalaman-na-vp-sara-pressed-to-name-house-friends-who-told-her-of-impeachment-plot 

Gutierrez, a lawyer, says impeachment is a serious constitutional process that entails strict grounds. 

“Impeachment is not a light matter, this is explicitly mentioned by the Constitution. There are very strict grounds for these," said the party-list solon. 

He added that even if COA's findings were to indicate any issues, it would still be a long process to determine whether those findings would justify impeachment. 

“It would be improper for us to comment on whether that would be sufficient grounds for impeachment,” Gutierrez said.