OVP chief of staff, assistant ordered detained
Metro Manila, Philippines — Lawmakers ordered the detention of Office of the Vice President (OVP) chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro made the motion to arrest Lopez because of “undue interference,” citing her letter, requesting the Commission on Audit (COA) to not heed the subpoena on confidential fund documents issued by the House committee on good government and public accountability.
Lopez will be detained until Nov. 25.
She appealed the arrest.
“It was just a respectful request to the Commission on Audit. There was no intention to demand from them or to order them or to commandeer them into something that they did not want to do,” Lopez said.
But lawmakers upheld their decision.
The panel also issued another arrest order for Ortonio for supposedly disrespecting lawmakers.
Through a letter, he initially said that he will attend the hearing. But he was a no-show as he is on official travel.
The committee agreed to have him detained at a Bicutan prison for 10 days.
Disbursements in various provinces
During the panel hearing, House lawmakers have questioned how a former Department of Education (DepEd) official personally disbursed payments across the country in a single day.
1-Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez said former DepEd special disbursing officer (SDO) Edward Fajarda personally issued disbursements from Luzon to Mindanao in one day, adding it happened multiple times.
Gutierrez said the most disbursements done in a day during the first quarter of 2023 was on March 15, with 26 disbursements in 19 provinces and in Metro Manila, amounting to P1.3 million.
“Let's give him a helicopter, I don't think he'll do that in one day. So, it really raises the question, how did SDO Fajarda certify and say he personally disbursed this?” Gutierrez said. “There's a physical impossibility of the delivery and encashment of the cash.”
“Talagang ito'y maaring ibinulsa o kung saan na napunta. Imposible 'yung isang araw na pumunta ka sa iba't ibang probinsya para mag-disburse,” Castro said.
[Translation: This may have been pocketed or went somewhere else. It is impossible for you to go to different provinces in one day to disburse.]
The COA assured lawmakers that it will look into the questioned fund release.
“We will take into consideration lahat ng napag-usapan natin [everything we discussed] and be more circumspect in our review,” COA auditor Gloria Camora said.
Same name, different signatures
Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Adiong presented supposedly questionable acknowledgement receipts of the OVP and DepEd under a certain Kokoy Villamin.
“Nakita rin po natin na may acknowledgement receipts na pare-pareho 'yung pangalan, magkakaiba 'yung date, magkakaiba 'yung kanilang pirma,” he said.
[Translation: We see that there are acknowledgement receipts with similar names but with different dates and signatures.]
Aside from Kokoy Villamin, a name in the receipt that surfaced in previous hearings was a certain Mary Grace Piattos.
Lawmakers said it seemed like a combination of a restaurant name and snack brand.
The House panel referred the acknowledgement receipts to the Philippine Statistics Authority to verify if such persons exist.
The committee will also tap the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police to conduct handwriting examinations on the receipts, beginning with Mary Grace Piattos.
Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Durerte was mum on the Mary Grace Piattos fiasco, saying she has not seen the document.
“Basically, lahat ng mga documents, hindi siya dumadaan sa akin. Dumederetso siya sa SDO and sina-submit sa ICFAU (Intelligence and Confidential Fund Audit Unit),” Duterte said in a press conference.
[Translation: Basically, all documents do not pass through me. It goes to the SDO and then submitted to the ICFAU.)
Duterte remained a no show on the sixth inquiry on the P612.5-million confidential fund of the OVP and the DepEd.
