House panel postpones Friday hearing to give way to NBI probe on VP Sara

The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability will postpone its scheduled hearing on Friday regarding the allegedly questionable budget use of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Committee chairperson and Manila  Representative Joel Chua said this is to give way to the National Bureau of Investigation's (NBI) investigation into Vice President Sara Duterte's threat to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

"Ito pong issue sa NBI ay napakahalaga at it concerns national security. Kaya kami ay nag-decision na i-postpone ang committee hearing for tomorrow," Chua said. 

(This issue with the NBI is very important and it concerns national security. So we decided to postpone the committee hearing tomorrow.) 

Duterte on Wednesday said she requested the NBI to reschedule her subpoena as she will prioritize her attendance at the congressional hearing. 

 But the House panel said that it doesn’t want to be used as an excuse to evade a very serious matter. 

“Kaya po ayun nga po yung pinarating sa akin ng mga kasama ko na parang ang nangyari kami pa ang nagiging dahilan o nagiging excuse para hindi siya maka-attend,” said Chua. 

(My colleagues informed me about it and it seemed that we became a scapegoat or excuse for her not to attend the NBI’s summon.) 

“Kaya kami po ay magbibigay po kami nang saganun ay hindi na kami magamit na dahilan para hindi siya makarating bukas,” he added. 

(We are paving the way so we will not be an excuse for her not to go to the NBI.) 

The NBI on Tuesday served a subpoena to Duterte after she earlier said that she ordered someone to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez if an alleged assassination plot against her succeeds.

Duterte has been formally invited to the NBI headquarters in Manila on Friday to explain her statement. The subpoena noted Duterte's "possible violation" of the Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on Wednesday said she requested the NBI to reschedule her summon as she will prioritize her attendance at the House committee to support her staff.

She previously said that her statement that she would have the First Couple and Romualdez assassinated if she were killed was “maliciously taken out of logical context.”

When will the hearings end? 

The House panel said that its investigation on the controversial use of the offices held by Duterte could end soon. 

“Actually, kung ako ang tatanungin, siguro baka hingin ko yung opinyon ng mga kasama ko. Magpapa-set po kami ng meeting kung may mga kailangan pa bang pigain. Kung wala naman po, siguro it’s high time,” said Chua when asked on when the hearings could possibly end.

(Actually, if I were asked, I still need to ask the opinion of my colleagues. We will set a meeting to discuss if there are still things that need to be looked into. If there’s none, I think it’s high time.) 

Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun shared the same sentiment.

“Kung tatanungin niyo ako kung gaano pa katagal, siguro mga isa o dalawa na hearings pa na magaganap para siguro makita natin kung ano talaga yung nangyari,” he said. “Nakakalungkot lang, ipinipilit talaga nilang itago kung saan napunta yung pera at saka yung responsibilidad regarding sa pagkukulang sa pagiingat sa pera ng pamahalaan.”

(If you would ask me how long we will do the hearings, I think it’s enough to have one or two more so we can really find out how things happened. It’s just disappointing that they are really lying about what happened to the funds and they refuse to take responsibility for the mismanagement of funds.)

The panel has yet to reschedule the next hearing.

Further, the panel said that it will file bills next week that were products of its investigation.

“Makapag pasa kami ng mga batas na kung saan mas mapo-protektahan yung paggastos sa confidential fund ng bawat ahensya. Kasi naniniwala po kami na hindi na po ito dapat maulit,” said Konghun.

(We hope to pass a law that will protect the spending of confidential funds of each agency. We believe that this controversy should not happen again.)

“Dapat magkaroon tayo ng safeguard lalo na sa paggamit o sa pag-disburse ng mga confidential fund ng kahit anong departamento ng ating pamahalaan.”

(We need to have a safeguard in utilizing or in the disbursement of the confidential funds of any government department.) 

In its 2022 Annual Audit Report, state auditors disclosed that the OVP had P125 million in confidential expenses last year despite not having an appropriation for intelligence or confidential funds under the 2022 General Appropriations Act. The OVP also received P500 million in confidential funds in 2023.
—KBK/RF, GMA Integrated News