Vice President Sara Duterte —Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte will skip for the second time her scheduled appearance at the National Bureau of Investigation to host a Thanksgiving party for reporters covering the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
The Vice President said her lawyers advised her that her presence was not needed at the NBI, which is investigating the alleged threats she made against President Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos and cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez last month.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: VP Sara Duterte no-show at NBI, asks for rescheduling
FEATURED STORIES NEWSINFO Grab told to explain why drivers shoulder 20-percent fare cut NEWSINFO VP to snub NBI probe anew, cites party with media NEWSINFO Quad comm to recommend raps: Will they tag Duterte?“I am also unavailable on that day because aside from that (advice by lawyers), we will also hold our Thanksgiving activities [with the media] on Dec. 11,” Duterte told reporters in Davao City on Monday night.
“After the Thanksgiving activities, I have to fly back here in Davao City for the burial of my uncle,” she added.
Article continues after this advertisementDuterte was earlier issued a subpoena to appear at the NBI on Nov. 29, but she asked the bureau to reschedule as she was planning to attend a House hearing on that date. The House committee then postponed its inquiry to allow Duterte to comply with the NBI subpoena, but Duterte said she was informed too late about the schedule change.
Article continues after this advertisement Second subpoenaIt was only last week when Duterte’s staff sent invitations to the media, including the Inquirer, for the Dec. 11 lunch party to be held at the OVP headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
Article continues after this advertisementThis was after the NBI issued a second summons for her to appear on the same day.
During an expletive-laden online press conference around midnight of Nov. 23, Duterte said she had spoken with someone about assassinating the President, the first lady and the Speaker, should she herself be killed.
Article continues after this advertisementThe NBI later opened an investigation of Duterte for possible offenses, including grave threats and violations of the cybercrime and antiterrorism laws.
The Vice President later defended her outburst, saying her statement was premised on a scenario where she, too, would be killed.
“From what I understand based on my lawyers’ explanation about the NBI investigation, I was told that I can skip it,” she said, adding: “They said I can just submit a letter, an affidavit, or a position paper, but it will be based on my decision.”
Ghost beneficiariesDuterte, as the head of the OVP and the former chief of the Department of Education (DepEd), is the subject of a congressional investigation into the two agencies’ spending of P612.5 million in confidential funds from 2022 to 2023.
The offices were accused of submitting receipts signed by ghost beneficiaries for their assistance programs, including a Mary Grace Piattos and a Kokoy Villamin, names later found nonexistent by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) upon checking birth records.
The PSA also arrived at the same findings when it looked into 405 other purported signatories in receipts.
Checking 1,992 moreOn Tuesday, the House committee on good government and public accountability said it asked the PSA to verify the civil registry records of 1,992 more people who supposedly received portions of Duterte’s confidential funds.
In a Dec. 9 letter to National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa, panel chair and Manila Rep. Joel Chua asked for the birth, marriage, and death certificates of the names that appeared on acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit to justify its expenditure of the hard-to-audit funds between December 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.
Chua earlier asked the PSA to verify an initial batch of 667 names who were recorded as having received confidential funds disbursed by DepEd during Duterte’s tenure in 2023.
The Vice President quit her DepEd post in June over policy and political disagreements with the Marcos administration.
On Monday, Chua revealed that based on PSA data, out of the 667 names, 405 were found to have no birth records, 445 lacked marriage certificates, and 508 had no death certificates.
ImpeachmentThe Manila lawmaker said these “bolster[ed] suspicions” that many of the names provided by the OVP and DepEd under Duterte did not exist and that the receipts were “fabricated to justify confidential fund expenditures.”
The House inquiry unearthed other irregularities in the two agencies’ confidential expenses, such as different names on receipts having similar signatures or penmanship; liquidation reports that appeared “copy-pasted” across all quarters; P53 million spent on alleged “safe houses”; the disbursement of money to 103 people in just one day on Dec. 23, 2022; and the use of military certification to justify spending for an event the DepEd did not organize.
Several lawmakers said the findings of the House inquiry could bolster two pending impeachment complaints filed against Duterte last week.
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The two complaintswinner777, filed separately by civil society leaders and activists, accused Duterte of betrayal of public trust for misusing public funds, among other allegations. INQ
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