Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The amount of money being scrutinized in the House inquiry on the alleged funds misuse by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) under Vice President Sara Duterte surpasses the legal threshold for the crime of plunder. 

Holding its second hearing on the high-profile probe Wednesday, Sept. 25 was the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua. 

“I must stress at this point that the sheer vastness of these potentially misused funds sets this matter apart from other instances of irregularity and disallowance--these amounts easily surpass the threshold for the crime of plunder under our laws,” Chua said in his opening remarks. 

“It is incumbent upon us, who are duty bound to ensure that our legislation and regulations are effective enough to protect the money of the people, to investigate and get to the bottom of these glaring irregularities,” he added. 

The threshold for the crime of pllunder is P50 million. The Chua panel is particularly focused on the P125-million confidential funds allocated to the OVP that was spent in just 11 days in December 2022. 

The central person in the investigation--Vice President Duterte--attended the first hearing last week. However, she refused to take her oath and left early. 

Chua called attention to the alarming pace at which the funds were used. He said the OVP’s liquidation reports raised more questions than answers. 

“Paulit-ulit po at parang cinopy-paste ang liquidation ng confidential funds ng OVP,” Chua said. 

(It's as if the liquidation of the OVP's confidential funds were just repeatedly copied and pasted.) 

He noted that the documents submitted lacked detailed breakdowns and appeared to have been hastily prepared. 

The Commission on Audit (COA) disallowed P73 million of the P125 million--a staggering 60 percent of the confidential funds alloted to the OVP in 2022. 

Chua revealed that the remaining P500 million set for 2023 was also being reviewed, with only P51 million having been cleared by COA so far. The discrepancies have prompted the committee to deepen its investigation into how the funds were used. 

"Wala pang kalahating buwan, naubos na daw ang P125M million (The P125 million was exhausted in less than half a month)," said Chua, who expressed disbelief over how such a large sum could be spent in such a short amount of time. 

The OVP had claimed that the funds were used for surveillance in 132 areas during the holiday season. However, House members found this justification hard to believe. 

Meanwhile, Chua assured the public that the inquiry was not politically motivated. Instead, it is aimed solely at ensuring the proper use of public funds. 

“This investigation is not prompted by any motive other than a desire to make the numbers make sense,” he clarified. 

“What we have seen regarding the usage by the OVP of its confidential funds certainly gives this committee – and the country – cause to want to find out the facts behind this, ultimately to fulfill this august body’s mandate of crafting effective laws and legislation to protect our people’s hard-earned money,” Chua said. 

“This committee is, understandably, very alarmed at these reports implying misuse of public funds, in particular because of the astronomical, almost unimaginable amount of money involved," he added.