Impeachment bid vs. Sara Duterte 'reasonable but may not be possible' –Cong. Chua

Filing an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte is "reasonable but may not be possible," according to House good government and public accountability panel chair Joel Chua. 

The Manila 3rd District Representative made the statement on Thursday amid the House panel's probe on the alleged questionable use of the Office of the Vice President's confidential funds worth P500 million.

"Kung tatanungin po sa akin kung may grounds for impeachment, definitely meron po. Ngayon, kung ito po ay magpuproceed sa impeachment, it's a very challenging question dahil alam naman po natin yung sitwasyon natin ngayon," Chua told Unang Balita.

(If you are going to ask me if there is grounds for impeachment, there are, definitely. Now, if this will proceed to impeachment, it is a challenging question because we know what the situation is.)

"By next year, simula na po ng kampanya. So, medyo hindi ko po alam kung ito po ay posible," Chua added.

(The campaign season for the May 2025 polls will start next year, so I don't really know if this will be possible.)

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier told the House panel that the acknowledgement receipts on confidential fund use of the OVP and DepEd had incorrect dates, unnamed signatures, unreadable signatories, if not suspicious signatories such as "Mary Grace Piattos". 

The House panel has since touched base with various government agencies to find out if the signatories on the acknowledgment receipts were real persons. 

The House panel inquiry also revealed that the Education Department (DepEd) previously headed by Duterte used certifications from military officials to justify confidential fund use without the knowledge of the military officials that their certifications will be used for such purpose. 

"There are really a lot of questionable documents and we are looking at where the money went," Chua said.

Chua also noted that OVP's undue interference in the House panel inquiry wherein it asked the COA not to comply with the subpoena issued by the House appropriations panel in August 2022 on the audit of the confidential funds, only raises more suspicion. 

'No misuse of funds'

The Vice President previously said she won't be attending the House panel inquiry since it is not being done in aid of legislation, but a dry run of an impeachment case against her. 

Duterte, however, appeared in a House probe back in September where  she denied allegations of misusing the confidential funds. 

"I am appearing before you today not only as the head of office, but more importantly as the newly authorized representative of all officials of the OVP (Office of the Vice President). Simply because we have not done anything wrong," Duterte said

"There is no misuse of funds. If there are audit findings, we will gladly respond to them before the Commission on Audit. And if there are legitimate cases to be filed, then we will gladly respond to them before the appropriate courts in relation to this," Duterte added. 

Duterte on Wednesday also refused to comment regarding the P1 million reward for any information on "Mary Grace Piattos."

"I have no comment on that, 'no, because I have not seen the acknowledgement receipt na kanilang sinasabi. Because basically, lahat ng mga documents, hindi siya dumadaan sa akin. Dumidiretso siya sa SDO and sina-submit siya sa…office ng COA na gumagawa ng audit ng confidential funds," the Vice President said.

(I have no comment on that because I have not seen the acknowledgment receipt that they are talking about. Basically, all the documents don't go through me. They go straight to the SDO and are submitted to the COA office that conducts an audit of the confidential funds.)

Chua, meanwhile, said the Vice President will continue to be invited during the inquiry.

"We believe that that committee is the proper venue to address the issues besetting here. If she won't show up, she would waive her right to respond," Chua added.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News