The House good government and public accountability committee on Thursday issued subpoena ad testificandum to six officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for refusing to attend the probe on how their office used its budget, including confidential funds.
The six officials were:
- chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez,
- lawyer Lemuel Ortonio,
- lawyer Rosalynne Sanchez,
- Gina Acosta,
- Julieta Villadelrey, and
- Edward Fajarda
Manila Representative Joel Chua, committee chairman, also made a motion to issue an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) against the six in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration and the Justice department. The motion was also unanimously approved by the panel.
An ILBO instructs immigration officers to alert authorities should the subjects attempt to leave the country.
In response, the OVP officials said they skipped the House probe because it is not in aid of legislation as the data being asked could easily be verified through Commission on Audit reports.
“In other words, it becomes completely unnecessary for the Committee to belabor and pursue a legislative inquiry into the budget utilization and accomplishment of the Office because the data has already been provided during the budget deliberations in the Committee on Appropriations, and that further information needed may be verified through the COA,” the OVP officials said in its position paper submitted to the House panel.
“It (investigation) lacks clear legislative objective or contemplated legislation that is expected as an outcome of the deliberation. It has been the consistent position of the Office that a draft bill for consideration must at least be attached to the invitation for us to be informed of the aid that we can provide to the deliberations,” they added.
Vice President Sara Duterte earlier said that her office never misused its budget amid COA records showing the OVP spent P125 million of its confidential funds in 11 days in 2022.
Instead, the Vice President said the inquiry is a mere test case for filing an impeachment case against her.
“Sa totoo lang, hindi naman ang budget ang puntirya ninyo dahil napakadali naman magtanggal ng budget (In fact, you are not after the budget here because you can easily take that away). What you are trying to do is make a case for impeachment,” she said.
Duterte said efforts to “destroy” her will not make her cave in.
“So, you may try to destroy me, you can skin me alive, and throw my ashes to the wind. But let it be known, you will find me unbowed,” she added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News
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