ii89ph House wraps up OVP, DepEd funds probe amid impeachment raps

MANILA, Philippines After seven hearings on how Vice President Sara Duterte spent her offices confidential funds, the House good government committee is scheduled to wrap up its legislative probe on Monday, December 9. Rep. Joel

MANILA, Philippines — After seven hearings on how Vice President Sara Duterte spent her offices’ confidential funds, the House good government committee is scheduled to wrap up its legislative probe on Monday, December 9.

Rep. Joel Chua (Manila, 3rd District) announced on Sunday, December 8, that the panel he leads will no longer continue the investigation on confidential funds given that Duterte is already facing two impeachment complaints.

"Impeachment complaints have already been filed against our Vice President, so we deemed it appropriate to wrap up this investigation on (confidential funds) as well," he said in Filipino in an interview with DZBB Super Radyo 594.

He added that the committee is prepared to summarize its findings and will propose measures addressing the handling, accounting and auditing of confidential funds this week.

“On Monday, only the members will meet. We will wrap up the discussion on confidential funds and summarize what transpired,” he said.

Should the House Committee on Justice require the good government panel's findings for the impeachment deliberations, Chua said they would be made available.

Two impeachment complaints were filed by various civil society groups against Duterte on December 2 and 4, respectively.

Both complaints cited the committee’s findings of alleged anomalies in confidential fund expenditures as grounds for impeachment.

No more resource persons

The committee initially planned to invite two security officers involved in disbursing confidential fund payments and rewards. However, the chair said this is no longer necessary, as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has started its own investigation.

According to former Department of Education (DepEd) special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda, he gave the P112.5 million confidential funds to colonel Dennis Nolasco in varying amounts on a weekly basis.

He said Nolasco was responsible for delivering the payments and providing him with the acknowledgment receipts.

RELATED: DepEd, OVP disbursing officers: 'Security officers' handled confidential funds

Gina Acosta, special disbursing officer of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), shared a similar testimony for the P500 million confidential funds. In her case, she said she handed the funds to colonel Raymund Dante Lachica, who was in charge of surveillance and monitoring operations.

Lachica is also the head of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group.

However, Joint Circular 2015-01, which outlines guidelines for the use of confidential funds, explicitly states that the special disbursing officer is accountable for the spending and accounting of these funds.

The circular also does not provide permission to any other personnel to conduct the disbursement of funds.

What else has the committee learned?

Other than the special disbursing officers’ experience, the committee discovered irregularities in over a hundred acknowledgment receipts submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA).

These receipts serve as documentary evidence of successful payments and justify the use of confidential funds.

Lawmakers observed typographical errors with the dates of several receipts, which also included similar ink, penmanship and “fictitious” names like “Mary Grace Piattos.”

Each recipient received thousands of pesos, some reaching up to P100,000.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has previously confirmed that its database contains no birth, marriage or death records for Piattos or a certain “Kokoy Villamin.”

RELATED: PSA asked to verify 677 names after 'Mary Grace Piattos, Kokoy Villamin'

Another concern for lawmakers was the P16 million confidential funds spent by the OVP for 34 safehouses in just 11 days in December 2022.

Meanwhile, the committee flagged P15.54 million in DepEd confidential funds allocated for “youth leadership summits,” citing unaccounted expenditures not classified under a program for counter-insurgency.

At the same time, the Philippine Army said they did not receive a single centavo for conducting the summits.

The congressional probe into the OVP’s and DepEd’s confidential funds was initiated after the OVP budget hearing revealed a notice of disallowance for P73 million from COAii89ph, indicating irregular or inappropriate spending.