House probe snub? VP Sara says personnel in satellite offices for OVP anniversary 

Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday defended the officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) who repeatedly failed to attend the House panel inquiry into her office’s budget use, saying they were in various satellite offices to attend the activities for the upcoming OVP anniversary. 

At a press conference, Duterte said that the OVP will celebrate its 89th founding anniversary on November 15, thus some personnel from the central offices had to be deployed to OVP’s satellite offices across the country. 

“So marami sa mga personnel na galing sa central office nagpunta sa mga satellite offices dahil lahat ng mga satellite offices meron silang thanksgiving na iba’t ibang activities na thanksgiving,” she said. 

(Many of the personnel from the central office went to the satellite offices because all the satellite offices have thanksgiving activities for the OVP anniversary.) 

Four OVP officials namely Lemeul Ortonio, Gina Acosta, Sunshine Fajarda and Edward Fajarda were cited in contempt on Monday for their repeated failure to show up before a House panel inquiry on the budget use of the OVP, as well as the Department of Education during Duterte’s stint as secretary. 

The contempt order against the four carries a detention at the Batasang Pambasa Complex in Quezon City.

The four were also among the seven OVP officials to whom the Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO), along with OVP chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez, Rosalynne Sanchez, and Julieta Villadelrey. 

All of them were subject of the subpoena ad testificandum issued by the House good government and public accountability committee for refusing to attend the probe into how their office used its budget, including confidential funds.

The seven earlier 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.

OVP projects

Moreover, Duterte said that some projects of the OVP, specifically the free bus rides and financial assistance provided in its satellite offices, may be affected by the proposed cuts in the OVP’s 2025 budget. 

To recall, the Senate Committee on Finance has adopted the House of Representatives version of the P6.352-trillion General Appropriations Bill for 2025 allocating P733 million for the OVP instead of the P2 billion outlay proposed in the National Expenditure Program.

Currently, Duterte said that the OVP’s satellite offices are still functioning and will continue to do so until December 31, 2024. However, she said she is unsure how the operations will change come 2025. 

“Sa ngayon, hindi namin masagot kung mag-operate pa ang satellite office by January 1 [2025] kasi hindi namin nakikita kung ano ang final budget ng Office of the Vice President kasi wala pa namang General Appropriations Act,” the vice president said. 

(Right now, we can’t answer yet if the satellite office will still operate by January 1, 2025 because we have no idea of the final budget of the Office of the Vice President yet as the General Appropriations Act is not yet signed.) 

“So once lumabas ang budget for next year, malalaman namin kung ano ‘yung budget ng Office of the Vice President and then we will adjust accordingly,” she added. 

(Once the budget for next year is approved, we will know what the budget of the Office of the Vice President is and then we will adjust accordingly.) 

Aside from its central office in Mandaluyong, the OVP has ten satellite offices and two extension offices across the country. 

Likewise, Duterte said the OVP’s Libreng Sakay may also be affected should the budget cuts push through. 

“If there will be budget cuts, the operations of the Libreng Sakay will likely be affected. But we can adjust. Sanay naman ako sa [I’m used to] adjustments when I was mayor of Davao City… Sanay naman kami mag-spread out ng [we’re used to spreading out] resources to ensure na meron pa ring [that there will still be] budgets,” she said.

No OVP spox yet

Duterte also said that there is no replacement yet for Atty. Michael Poa as spokesperson for the OVP.

“Wala pa [none yet]. Sa ngayon, wala pa kaming [right now, we have no] replacement for the Office of the Vice President spokesperson. If you have recommendations or a shortlist, we welcome your recommendations,” she said. 

Last Tuesday, Poa said he is no longer the OVP spokesperson since his consultancy contract has already been terminated.

Prior to his OVP stint, Poa also served as undersecretary and spokesperson of the Department of Education when Duterte was still its secretary.

When the Vice President resigned as Education chief, Poa also resigned from DepEd and transferred to the OVP.—LDF, GMA Integrated News