House panel subpoenas OVP officers who skipped probe

Vice President Sara Duterte attends a hearing for the Office of the Vice President's 2025 budget at the House of Representatives on August 27, 2024.  Photo courtesy of the House of Representatives

MANILA — The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability has ordered the issuance of subpoena and lookout bulletin against six officers and personnel under the Office of the Vice President, who repeatedly failed to attend its hearing into the alleged irregularities in the OVP’s utilization of confidential funds.

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These include Vice President Sara Duterte’s Chief of Staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez, OVP’s Assistant Chief of Staff and chairperson of the Bids and Awards Atty. Lemuel Ortonio, and OVP’s Director for Administrative and Financial Services Atty. Rosalynne Sanchez.

Also among the OVP officers who will be subject of subpoena and lookout bulletin are Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey, and Edward Fajarda.

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In a position paper submitted before the House panel, they said the hearing was “unnecessary” and that their attendance was “not needed”, noting that government offices like the OVP are regularly audited by the Commission on Audit. 

The OVP officials and personnel said the data required by lawmakers could be verified through COA reports. 

They also claimed that the subject matter of the House committee deliberation was “not in aid of legislation”, and questioned the jurisdiction of the panel to conduct the inquiry. 

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They further said that they were “extremely cautious” of discussing before the committee issues already pending before the Supreme Court, citing the sub judice rule.

These were consistent with Vice President Duterte’s position for attending only the panel’s first hearing and skipping the rest.

“The absence of any legislative objective or outcome and the lack of clarity in the Rules as to jurisdiction and power of the Committee does not satisfy the requirements enshrined in Articl VI, Section 21 of the Constitution on inquiries in aid of legislation. We therefore respectfully request the Committee to terminate its inquiry on the matter,” the invited OVP officers said in a joint position paper. 

“The Committee is assured of the continuing cooperation and coordination with the Commission on Audit on matters of the ongoing process,” they added.

'UNJUSTIFIED'

Committee Chairperson and Manila Third District Rep. Joel Chua asserted that the “non-compliance and unjustified, baseless refusal to attend Congressional inquiries is tantamount to a violation of the Constitution”. 

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He said Congress has authority to inquire into the operations of the executive branch, adding that the exercise of sovereign legislative authority cannot be subordinate to a criminal or administrative investigation.

“Ang Kongreso ang guardian of public funds. Ang imbestigasyon sa government transactions is a proper exercise of the power of inquiry… Nararapat lamang na maipatawag ang mga empleyado ng Executive na mas nakakaalam ng mga transaksyong pinasok nila,” Chua said.

“It also follows that non-compliance and unjustified, baseless refusal with Congressional inquiries is tantamount to a violation of the Constitution,” he added.

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