House quad-committee (quad-comm) version 2.0 overall chairman, Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. has called out Vice President Sara Duterte for her penchant for "propaganda" and "press releases" amid her many allegations of impeachable offenses.

According to Abante, the impeachment respondent is better off going to the proper venue to answer these allegations instead of avoiding it.

“Ibigay niya ang kanyang paliwanag sa Committee on Justice. Hindi iyung puro propaganda lang siya (She should give her explanation to the Committee on Justice, not just resort to propaganda),” Abante said of Vice President Duterte.

“Ang komite—at ang Senado kung doon ito mauuwi—ang tamang forum para sa kanyang paliwanag. Hindi lamang press release, social media post o press conference ang kanyang dapat gawin. Kung ganyan lang, malinaw na pag-iwas sa responsibilidad at accountability ito,” reckoned the third-term solon.

(The committee—and the Senate, if it comes to that—is the proper forum for his explanation. It should not be limited to press releases, social media posts, or press conferences. If that’s all he does, it is clearly an evasion of responsibility and accountability.)

In an impeachment proceas, the complaint or case is filed and built up in the House of Representatives. The resulting articles of impeachment is then sent to the Senate, which will try the involved official in an impeachment court.

Last Tuesday, April 14, alleged Duterte "bagman" detainee Ramil Madriaga gave his supplementary affidavit to the House Committee on Justice, during its hearing on the determination of probable cause in the impeachment case.

Also tackled by the panel was the Commission on Audit’s final ruling affirming the disallowance of P73 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) of the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s tenure as education secretary.

The hearing also examined findings of the National Bureau of Investigation–Questioned Documents Division (NBI-QDD), which flagged similarities in handwriting and signatures in acknowledgment receipts (AR) of supposed CIF recipients.

“Sa batas, may presumption of regularity ang mga ahensya ng gobyerno—ibig sabihin, inaasahang maayos ang kanilang ginawa at walang halong politika (In law, government agencies are afforded a presumption of regularity—meaning their actions are expected to be proper and free from political influence)," Abante said.

He said the findings point to irregularities in the spending of nearly half of the P125 million CIFs released to DepEd.

“Ang final disallowance, malinaw: hindi pinayagan ang paggastos ng P73 million dahil kaduda-duda at walang sapat na dokumento (The final disallowance is clear: the expenditure of P73 million was not permitted because it was questionable and lacked sufficient documentation)," stressed the Manila solon.

Abante also noted that similar cases have reached the Sandiganbayan and the Office of the Ombudsman, with some officials ordered to return public funds.

“Ganito rin ang ibig sabihin ng desisyon ng COA—isauli ang P73 million ng VP at ng ilang opisyal ng DepEd (This is likewise the meaning of the COA decision—that the P73 million must be returned by the Vice President and certain DepEd officials),” he said.