Ending of house inquiry into VP funds questioned
House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro —HOR photo Manila Rep. Joel Chua —Niño Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines — The head of the House committee on good government and public accountability said it was not yet through looking into how the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) used their regular budgets after a lawmaker questioned the panel’s decision to wrap up its inquiry on the two offices’ alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds.
Deputy Minority Leader France Castro, addressing the committee on Monday, expressed concern that closing the probe at this point could pin culpability on the special disbursing officers (SDOs) and other executives in the OVP and DepEd and spare Vice President Sara Duterte and the military officials who allegedly disbursed the allocations.
The SDOs had earlier identified these military officials as Colonels Raymund Dante Lachica, commander of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, and Dennis Nolasco, formerly a security officer assigned to DepEd.
“Why did we stop there? Why didn’t we summon the security officers involved or those who received the confidential funds?” Castro, ACT Teachers party list representative, asked in Filipino, after Manila Rep. Joel Chua, the panel chair, said on Sunday that the committee was ending its inquiry on Monday.
Liability of military officers
She warned that the military officers could be absolved of liability. “How can we be sure that the (Armed Forces of the Philippines) probe would be fair and just? Remember, this involves P612.5 million,” Castro said, adding that Duterte, the “most responsible for the funds,” as well as the two officers could evade accountability.
Article continues after this advertisement“I’m afraid that all the blame would be placed on the [SDOs],” she added.
Article continues after this advertisementDuring a committee hearing on Nov. 25, OVP SDO Gina Acosta and DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda identified Colonels Lachica and Nolasco as the ones who “in reality,” disbursed the confidential funds of the two agencies. Acosta said she turned over P125 million in cash to Lachica because he was trusted by the “head of office,” in an apparent reference to the Vice President.
Fajarda, on the other hand, said Duterte instructed him to turn over part of the P112.5 million in confidential funds under DepEd to Nolasco.
“I just feel that we can’t stop here just because of the Vice President’s order. Remember the signatories in the documents, Acosta and Fajarda, are lower-ranked officials. They might end up being held liable,” said Castro, expressing discontentment at how the panel was closing the probe.
The committee had earlier said that it would invite Lachica and Nolasco to its inquiry, prompting the AFP’s assurance of its cooperation.
But this has not been followed through, after the panel paused its inquiry to give way to Duterte’s scheduled appearance on Nov. 29 before the National Bureau of Investigation’s own inquiry which the Vice President skipped at any rate.
Chua acknowledged that there were still many issues that must be looked into in determining whether other aspects of public fund disbursement required legislation.
‘Yearender’
“Although there are still many questions in the use of confidential funds, we’ve learned enough to uphold our mandate to craft laws for the country’s benefit. But we will not stop investigating because confidential funds [are] only part of the budget of the OVP and DepEd,” Chua said in Filipino during Monday’s hearing.
“This will be the wrap-up committee hearing in so far as the confidential funds but we still won’t conclude the inquiry,” he said, adding: “This is like a yearender. We’re just summarizing what has happened in the past seven hearings.”
The Manila congressman cited the filing of two impeachment complaints against Duterte for her alleged misuse of confidential funds and the initiation of a probe by the AFP on the military officers assigned to Duterte.
Chua said the committee members decided to give way to the AFP’s internal probe.
“We will coordinate with the AFP,” he said, adding that the panel could only recommend the filing of cases against erring officials.
