OVP says House probe on budget use 'unnecessary'

The Office of Vice President (OVP) Sara Duterte on Thursday said the ongoing inquiry by the House committee on good government and public accountability on its budget utilization is ‘unnecessary’ and not in aid of legislation.

 "Both lack clear legislative objectives or contemplated legislation that is expected as an outcome of the deliberations,” it said in a statement, referring to Resolution No. 379, which stemmed from the privilege speech of Representative Rolando Valeriano and the manifestation of Rep. Gerville Luistro.

The OVP noted that the ongoing inquiry "cannot ensure that discussions would be germane to the subject matter right from the time of its referral and commencement of the deliberations."

“With due respect to the honorable members of the Committee, the OVP believes that in accordance with jurisprudence, the invited resource persons are under no compulsion to attend. Be that as it may, OVP officials and personnel have submitted before the Committee their replies to the invitation,” it added. 

The OVP officials invited to the hearing did not show up prompting the House panel to issue a subpoena against them.

During the inquiry, it was revealed that the OVP spent P16 million of its P125 million confidential funds in 2022 for payment of safe houses for 11 days.

The OVP said it is cautious about discussing matters already pending before the Supreme Court (SC) “as the agency may violate the rule on sub judice, which restricts comments and disclosures pertaining to judicial proceedings.”

A petition was filed before the SC in November 2023 seeking the return of the OVP’s confidential funds to the government treasury. It asked the court to declare the transfer as “unconstitutional.”

In response, Duterte asked the high court to dismiss the petition.

“If the House panel chaired by the Hon. Joel Chua continues to conduct its inquiry of issues already pending before the Court, this will only create the possibility of conflict between the findings of a legislative committee and the judgment of a judicial tribunal,” the statement said, noting that such conflict may unnecessarily create a "constitutional crisis" between the House and the SC.

The OVP said that Duterte attended the inquiry on September 18 following an invitation sent by the House panel. 

On September 20, several officials and personnel received another invitation for the September 25 hearing, addressed solely to Duterte, to which she responded why the OVP would not be attending.

On October 9, the invited OVP officials and personnel responded with a written reply before the committee following a show cause order issued on October 7.

Lastly, on October 15, they received another invitation from the House panel, and the office replied with a position paper on October 17.

The OVP also cleared that like other government offices, it is regularly audited by the Commission on Audit, and the allegations concerning the utilization of its budget could easily be verified through the commission. —LDF, GMA Integrated News