Ex-DepEd official: Sara Duterte showered subordinates with money

Former Education undersecretary Gloria Mercado on Wednesday accused Vice President Sara Duterte of showering DepEd undersecretaries and assistant secretaries with money in envelopes roughly worth P50,000 monthly.

Mercado, former head of Procuring Entity (HoPE) at DepEd, said the incident happened in 2023. Duterte served as DepEd secretary from July 2022 until she resigned in July 2024.

“Between February 2023 to September 2023, I received a total of nine envelopes labelled HoPE, my concurrent position in DepEd during that time. These envelopes were handed to me monthly by Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda which she says came directly from the office of Vice President Sara Duterte,” Mercado told the ongoing House inquiry on OVP’s budget use.

"Galing kay VP [Sara], is what she would typically say as she hands the envelopes. It would appear that I received these envelopes by virtue of my office as HoPE. Atty. Sunshine Fajarda is the wife of Edward D. Fajarda who is the Special Disbursement Officer,” she added.

Mercado said she was informed by one of her staff regarding the question of one of DepEd’s field officers after Mr. Fajarda made inquiries about the bank accounts of several individuals, and if divulging such information to Mr. Fajarda was permitted.

“My office confirmed that it was upon the instruction of the Office of the Secretary. Evidently, it would appear that regional directors and other employees on the field would also receive sums on top of their regular salaries,” she said.

The retired DepEd official then said lawyer Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff of Vice President Duterte and undersecretary at the Office of the Vice President, also asked her to resign when she opposed the apparent negotiated procurement for the DepEd Computerization Program.

“I was informed that I should tender my resignation effective that day. I refused to resign and insisted on departing from the service through voluntary retirement,” Mercado said.

She, however, stopped short of saying that the envelopes from the Vice President were bribes.

“Uhm, it's kind of a harsh word to use...[the word] bribe,” Mercado said when asked by Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro.

Luistro then said “is it meant to influence your decision being the HoPE?”

To which Mercado answered, “it could be.”

Duterte hits back

In a press conference, Duterte called Mercado a ''disgruntled former employee'' who was supposedly let go due to “loss of trust and confidence.” 

“Naka-strike two siya sa akin. Ang una niyang ginawa, nag-solicit siya ng P16 million sa isang kumpanya on paper using my name without any authorization from the Department of Education,” the Vice President said.

(She made two strikes against me. The first thing she did was to solicit P16 million from a company on paper using my name without any authorization from the Department of Education.)

“Pangalawa, noong nag-school visit ako sa Cebu, merong lumapit sa akin na teacher. Sabi niya sa akin, ‘Inday Sara, masakit sa loob namin na mga teachers kami na nasa field tapos merong humahawak ng teacher items na wala dito sa aming probinsya o wala dito sa aming region,’” she added.

(Second, when I visited a school in Cebu, a teacher approached me and told me, 'Inday Sara, it pains us that we are teachers who are in the field but someone is holding teacher items that are not here in our province or in our region.)

According to Duterte, Mercado took a teacher in Region 7 and transferred him/her in the DepEd central office to work as her executive assistant.

She also told Mercado to present documents to prove her allegations.

"I think hindi niya matanggap bakit siya pinalayas sa DepEd (I think she could not accept why she was removed from DepEd)," the Vice President said.

Duterte calls former DepEd Usec Gloria Mercado a "disgruntled former employee," after the latter claimed that the Vice President was showering officials with money: "I think hindi niya matanggap bakit siya pinalayas sa DepEd."

— Giselle Ombay (@giselleombay_) September 25, 2024

Mercado, in response, turned over the nine envelopes, which she said she received from the Vice President as the head of DepEd’s procurement entity, to the House good government and public accountability panel.

She said the nine envelopes were already empty since she donated them to charitable institutions. 

“It says HoPE and the amount is there. Kasi ang sakit naman noon, ordinaryo lang akong trabahante tapos inano ka ng Vice President, di ba (It hurts. I am just an ordinary employee and the Vice President did this to you)? It's very painful,” she said, adding that the envelopes also indicate 50k or shortcut for P50,000.

In addition, Mercado said she did not solicit P16 million for her gain.

“l did not solicit. There's no money involved there. It’s not cash. It involves equipment to be turned over to DepEd,” she said.

“So, I feel very sad that up until now, the Vice has not been appraised as I explained it to her people, that we did not solicit. In fact, the two corporations are willing to give an affidavit that I have no solicitation from them [worth] P16 million,” she added.

Show cause orders

As this developed, the House good government and public accountability panel also issued show cause orders to the following OVP officials who skipped Wednesday’s probe without an explanation:

• Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez (Chief of Staff)
• Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio (Assistant Chief of Staff)
• Rosalynne Sanchez (director of Administrative and Financial Services)
• Special Disbursement Officer Gina Acosta
• Special Disbursement Officer Edward Fajarda and
• Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey 

A show cause order directs the subject official to explain why they should not be cited in contempt for snubbing the proceedings despite a standing invitation.

Being cited in contempt would mean issuance of a detention order from the said committee.

The House good government panel public hearing stemmed from the privilege speech delivered by Manila Representative Rolando Valeriano who accused Duterte of mismanaging the funds of the OVP based on findings from the Commission on Audit (COA).

Valeriano cited the COA notice of disallowance on P73 million of the P125 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP in 2022 due to lack of supporting documents justifying its legal use.

The same panel is also probing the alleged failure of the Department of Education (DepEd), under Duterte's leadership, to deliver information and communications technology equipment to teachers and students, as well as concerns over the proper utilization of funds.—with Giselle Ombay/AOL/VBL, GMA Integrated News