OVP officials skip House budget use probe anew

Seven officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Tuesday declined anew to attend the House good government and public accountability committee's continuing investigation into the agency's budget utilization.

In a position paper, OVP chief of staff Zuleika Lopez, Lemuel Ortonio, Atty. Rosalynne Sanchez, Julieta Villadelrey, Gina Acosta, Atty. Sunshine Fajarda, and Edward Fajarda requested the House panel to terminate its inquiry in the matter.

They pointed out the right to decline the invitation, saying that officials and personnel of the OVP were invited to attend in their capacity as resource persons.

"All things considered, we reiterate our previous position in the case of Calida v. Trillanes that 'persons invited to appear before a legislative inquiry do so as resource persons and not as accused in a criminal proceeding. Thus, they should be accorded respect and courtesy since they were under no compulsion to accept the invitation extended before them, yet they did so anyway. Their accommodation of a request should not in any way be repaid with insinuations,'" the position paper read.

"We are guided by this ruling of the Supreme Court in that invitations from the Committee may be declined, and that we have the right to respectfully refuse to participate in the proceedings," it added.

The officials also noted that the House probe invitations were sent on a holiday on Nov. 1, and that they were only able to read it only on Nov. 4, a day before the hearing.

The seven OVP officials were subject of the subpoena ad testificandum issued by the House good government and public accountability committee on Oct. 17, for refusing to attend the probe on how their office used its budget, including confidential funds.

Panel chairperson Joel Chua also earlier asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) against them.

An ILBO instructs immigration officers to alert authorities should the subjects attempt to leave the country.

Citing rescheduled hearing

Upon the advise of OVP Legal Affairs, the officials said the subpoena was "refused" because the document stated that it was issued for an Oct. 28, 2024 hearing schedule, which was reset.

"Please bear in mind that the scheduled hearing date of October 28, 2024 was reset until further notice in an earlier notice given to us," the officials said.

"Given these circumstances, the Subpoena can no longer be legally served nor obeyed," they added.

Furthermore, the officials said the subject matter of the House deliberation is not in aid of legislation and is "violative of the rights of resource persons."

They also reiterated that it is the House committee on appropriations that has the proper jurisdiction on the issues raised.

Right to decline

In a separate position paper, other personnel of the OVP argued the same, also stressing their right to decline the invitation.

It was signed by OVP director for operations Norman Baloro, Winnie Dayego, Kelvin Teñido, Zuhairah Abas, Jeizel Cone Asia, Rolmar Basalan, Maria Laiza Pamittan-Frogoso, Atty. Ma. Constancia Lim, Chris Sorongon, Michael Saavedra, Maximo Alexis Tan, Alan Tanjuakio, and Regina Tecson.

Meanwhile, Ma. Edelyn Rabago requested to be excused from participating in the hearing, saying that she has ended her service as officer-in-charge of the OVP's Budget Division since Sept. 30, 2024.

Vice President Sara Duterte earlier said that her office never misused its budget amid Commission on Audit (COA) records showing the OVP spent P125 million of its confidential funds in 11 days in 2022.

Instead, the Vice President said the inquiry was a mere test case for filing an impeachment case against her.

In October, Duterte also said the probe on its budget utilization was "unnecessary" and not in aid of legislation.

House subpoena

Also on Tuesday, the House good government and public accountability panel reissued subpoena ad testificandum to the same seven OVP officials for the last time.

If they still refuse to attend the next day of inquiry, the officials will be cited in contempt which carries a corresponding detention order.

Of the seven, only Lopez is not in the country as of the moment.

Based on Immigration records submitted to the House panel, Lopez entered the immigration gates of the airport last November 4 at 7:31p.m. aboard flight PR-102 Manila to Los Angeles, United States of America.

“To these people, don’t challenge the committee to issue a contempt order against you, given that we are inviting you to come for the fifth time already,” Manila lawmaker Benny Abante said.

In addition, Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Adiong dismissed the OVP officials’ reasoning for not attending, saying that the Supreme Court decision on the Calida vs. Trillanes case does not allow those subject of a subpoena to escape congressional inquiry.

“There's no portion in that ruling of the Supreme Court where it says that the invitation of a certain individual may not appear in the committee proceedings. Parts of the ruling state that we should be conscious about the rights of the invited persons. It does not say that they have the right to refuse to be called into inquiry. In fact, the refusal to attend a committee hearing constitutes a violation under the Revised Penal Code, Article 150,” Adiong said. — with Llanesca T. Panti/VDV/RSJ, GMA Integrated News