House panel expels OVP legal chief for dodging oath in probe

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">MANILA — The head of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) legal team was escorted out of a House hearing on Monday after she refused to take her oath and insisted that she was not a resource person formally invited to the congressional investigation.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Atty. Emily Rose Torrentira, chief of the OVP’s Legal Affairs Division, was called to explain why she refused to receive the subpoenas served at the OVP’s office in Mandaluyong.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">But when told to take her oath before furthering her explanation, Torrentira refused and did not raise her right hand alongside other OVP officials despite being directed to do so.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I am not refusing to take my oath,” Torrentira told lawmakers when asked why she refused to raise her right hand.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I was trying to explain that I am not an invited resource person. I was only asked to explain why there was no receipt for the subpoenas,” she said.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/5/-not-in-aid-of-legislation-ovp-officials-decline-to-attend-house-hearing-1049" style="color:rgb(199, 29, 29);text-decoration:none">‘Not in aid of legislation’: OVP officials decline to attend House hearing</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Members of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability questioned why Torrentira was in the hearing if she was not invited to attend.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“She was not invited to attend today’s hearing. She did not take her oath,” Quezon Second District Rep. Jay-jay Suarez said.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“We do not even know the personalities and circumstances as to why she is here. For all we know, she may be somebody posing for somebody and the committee cannot act on that mere representation,” he said.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Torrentiro initially refused to leave the room, saying that she was the “counsel for the Office of the Vice President,” but she eventually adhered to the committee’s directive.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">House members have been questioning the repeated absence of several OVP officials, saying that there seemed to be some “malicious intent” behind their excuses from attending congressional investigations.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/11/house-cites-4-ovp-linked-individuals-in-contempt-for-snubbing-budget-probe-1057">House cites 4 OVP-linked individuals in contempt for snubbing budget probe</a></span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The committee has been looking into alleged lapses on the spending of the OVP, including its failure to deliver good quality computers and supposed irregularities in the issuance of its confidential funds.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Vice President Sara Duterte has refused to take part in the congressional hearings and accused the House of politicking ahead of the 2028 presidential elections.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/18/vp-duterte-says-marcos-does-not-know-how-to-be-president-kasalanan-ko-ba-yun-1132">VP Duterte says Marcos &#x27;does not know how to be president&#x27;</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/5/another-deped-official-confirms-receiving-cash-envelopes-from-sara-duterte-2051">Another DepEd official confirms receiving cash envelopes from Sara Duterte</a><br/><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/6/imee-says-friendship-with-vp-sara-intact-despite-tirades-1349">Imee says friendship with VP Sara intact despite tirades</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eVlrWrHRUPM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>The head of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) legal team was escorted out of a House hearing on Monday after she refused to take her oath and insisted that she was not a resource person formally invited to the congressional investigation.</p>

The head of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) legal team was escorted out of a House hearing on Monday after she refused to take her oath and insisted that she was not a resource person formally invited to the congressional investigation.

House panel expels OVP legal chief for refusal to take oath in probe | ABS-CBN

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House panel expels OVP legal chief for refusal to take oath in probe

House panel expels OVP legal chief for refusal to take oath in probe

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 11, 2024 01:13 PM PHT

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Updated Nov 11, 2024 02:48 PM PHT

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House

OVP

Sara Duterte

Office of the Vice President

Emily Torrentiro

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