VP Sara Duterte won't attend Nov. 20 House panel inquiry on budget use

Vice President Sara Duterte said Friday she will not attend the November 20 House good government and public accountability panel inquiry on the budget use of her office and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her stint.

Duterte said it was a waste of her time and she will instead submit an affidavit to explain herself. 

“Inimbita nila ako noong una, pumunta ako, umupo ako roon. Hindi naman nila ako tinanong. Nakaupo lang ako, nasasayang ang oras ko. Kaya nagpaalam ako kung pwede ako umalis at pinayagan naman nila ako,” she said.

(They already invited me during the first hearing and I went there. I was sitting and they did not ask me questions. I was just sitting and my time was being wasted. So I asked permission to leave and they allowed me to leave.)

“So hindi ko alam kung bakit inimbita nila ako [on November 20], hindi naman nila ako binigyan ng mga tanong. Pero, hindi ako a-attend sa hearings nilang susunod. Kasi nandun na ako eh, pumunta ako pero wala naman silang ginawa sa akin, pinaupo lang ako,” she added.

(I don’t understand why they will invite me on November 20, and they did not even gave me questions to answer. So. I will not attend their next hearings because I already did that and I was just there, sitting.)

The Vice President was referring to her attendance at the House panel inquiry where she refused to take her oath prior to giving her testimony. 

With the Vice President refusing to take her oath, the House panel members proceeded to field questions to other resource persons present who took their oath.

Rep. Joel Chua, committee chairman, disputed the Vice President’s statements that they did not asked her any question.

“The Vice President has been given every opportunity to clarify the use of public funds in her office, particularly those that are shielded from typical auditing processes due to confidentiality,” Chua said in a separate statement.

“The public deserves clear answers, and we expect all officials, especially those at the highest levels, to step forward and explain their spending,” he added.

The invitation for the November 20 inquiry was served Wednesday to the Vice President when she showed up during the House QuadComm probe on drug war killings during the administration of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte. 

She arrived at the House QuadComm probe by the time her father was already answering questions from lawmakers for about five hours.

The House good government and public accountability panel earlier cited four Office of the Vice President officials in contempt over failure to show up in the congressional inquiry. The contempt order on other OVP personnel has been lifted as they already attended the hearing.

The House panel probe earlier revealed the receipts on the use of confidential funds under the younger Duterte’s watch had wrong dates, unnamed signatories, among other inconsistencies.

The Vice President said she will explain her absence on the November 20 inquiry in writing.

“We plan to send a letter to say why. And we plan as well, to send an affidavit on the confidential funds. Under oath rin naman iyang affidavit na ‘yan (That will also be under oath). And for the others, we plan to tell them what are the remedies available,” she added.

House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro said the Vice President should stop speaking for her father and instead face the House panel inquiry on her office’s budget use, including confidential fund disbursements.

“Sa bigla niyang paglitaw sa QuadComm, gusto din ba niyang maging resource person sa nangyaring extrajudicial killings sa Davao City nung siya ang mayor at kung paano ginamit ang napakalaking confidential funds nya dun?” Castro said.

(In her appearance before the QuadComm, does she want to be a resource person on the extrajudicial killings in Davao City when she was still the mayor and how she used the confidential funds during her term?)

“She should drop the squid tactics," the lawmaker added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News