VP Duterte, DepEd execs may face plunder over confidential fund use —solon

A member of the House good government and public accountability committee said Vice President Sara Duterte and several officials of the Department of Education, which she formerly headed, may face plunder complaints over the alleged unlawful disbursement of P612 million worth of confidential funds.

Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro made the observation during the conclusion of the panel's probe on the confidential fund use of the OVP and the Department of Education under Vice President Duterte.

“Ultimately, Mr. Chair, [this] is [about] the crime of plunder. [It is the] violation of the Plunder law under Republic Act 7080. Ang basis po natin ay lahat ng mga nakalap na impormasyon patungkol sa paggasta di umano ng OVP at ng Department of Education ng confidential funds sa ilalim ng pamumuno ng ating Vice President. Wala pong naipakita na ebidensya kung saan totoong napunta talaga ito,” Luistro said.

(Our basis is the information we unearthed here on how they spent the confidential funds under the leadership of the Vice President. There is no evidence showing that these funds were put to proper use.)

Luistro said that since the OVP and DepEd submitted acknowledgment receipts riddled with wrong dates, signatories with no birth records, unnamed signatories and non-readable names of signatories to liquidate the disbursed confidential fund to the Commission of Audit (COA), it is clear that the confidential fund was not spent legally.

“Pinatutunayan lang ng mga opisina dito sa pamamagitan ng acknowledgement receipts na atin namang napansin ng napakaraming anomalya. Pareho ang sulat, pareho ang pirma, pareho ang tinta ng ballpen, [at ang] ang impossibility na ito ay na-disburse [ng 27 times] ayon sa dami ng resibo sa iisang araw lamang,” Luistro said.

(Our arguments are supported by the fact that the acknowledgment receipts are anomalous, apparently with the same signatures, same ballpen ink and same ballpen used. There's even the instance of acknowledgment receipts being issued 27 times during the same day in different locations.)

“Isama na rin po natin ang mga nadiscover nating pangalang Mary Grace Piatos at Kokoy Villamin na napatunayan na wala sa database ng Philippine Statistics Authority. Ang isang konklusyon na ating nakita ay ang mga ito (acknowledgement receipts) ay hindi tunay. Pineke lamang ang mga ito upang maipamukha lamang na ginasta ito para sa surveillance activities,” Luistro added.

(To add, there's Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin whose birth records are not on our government database. We can only conclude that these names are fake, and these receipts are faked to make it appear that the confidential fund was indeed spent on surveillance activities.)

The crime of plunder exists when "a public officer who, by himself or in connivance with members of his family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt or criminal acts in the aggregate amount or total value of at least P50 million." 

“Lagpas, lagpas sa P50 million pesos na required para sa kasong plunder. Ang mga chekeng ito ay lahat na kapangalan kay Ms. Gina Acosta bilang Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) and OVP. Inamin niya sa atin na imbes na i-disburse niya ito as confidential expenses ay sinunod [niya] ang utos ng Bise Presidente na ibigay ang pera sa kanyang security officer,” Luistro said.

“Dito naman po sa Department of Education, ang payee sa mga cheque ay ang SDO Edward Fajarda, former SDO of DepEd Inamin rin niya na ang kanyang perang natatanggap ay binibigay niya sa security officer sa utos rin ng ating Bise Presidente,” she added.

(The amount involved is way over the P50 million threshold, and the disbursing officers of the OVP and DepEd, namely Gina Acosta and Eduard Fajarda, respectively, both admitted that they disbursed the money to a security officer on the instructions of the Vice President.)

Other possible criminal liabilities of the OVP and former DepEd officials, Luistro said, include perjury due to signatories of acknowledgment receipts having no records, and bribery and corruption of public officers over the Vice President showering then DepEd officials with money and the latter accepting them.

“Napakalaki at nakakalula. And to be very candid, Mr. Chair, ilang bata na sana ang ating napakain. Ilang bata na sana ang ating napaaral. At ilang pamilya na sana ang ating nabigyan ng bahay,” Luistro, a lawyer, said.

(This is so huge and staggering. This could have fed a lot of children, sent them to school. We could have provided housing for a lot of families with this amount.)

In addition, Ako-Bicol party-list lawmaker Raul Bongalon said the OVP and former DepEd officials are liable for technical malversation for unlawful use of confidential funds for medical and other forms of financial assistance.

Bongalon cited the notice of disallowance issued by the COA on P73 million of the P125 million confidential funds granted to OVP in December 2022.

Based on the said notice of disallowance, at least P69 million of the P73 million disallowed involved the following: P10 million for reward payment; P34.857 million for payment of reward (various goods); and P24.93 million for payment of reward (medicines).

COA said that the OVP did not submit documents showing the success of information gathering and/or surveillance activities to support the acknowledgment receipts for around P69 million of payments of rewards in cash, various goods, and medicines.

Likewise, COA said that P3.5 million of the disallowed P73 million “were used for payment for tables, chairs, desktop computers and printers without specifying that they were intended for the confidential operations/activities undertaken by the OVP, non-compliant with the requirement of Item 4.8.4 of the Joint Circular governing use of confidential fund.”

“The crime here is technical malversation under the revised Penal Code. It means that an accountable officer applies public funds to another purpose. Very straightforward,” Bongalon said.

“There is an accountable public officer such as the SDO or head of agency. Second, public funds under his or her custody were used for other purposes which were not approved,” he added.

Surigao del Sur lawmaker Johnny Pimentel, for his part, said the OVP and former DepEd officials could face falsification of public documents over military certifications of confidential fund use without the military’s knowledge that their certification will be used for such.

“We remember Mary Grace Piattos, the person that obviously does not exist since the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) has no birth records of her. And yet her name appears in the acknowledgement receipts submitted to liquidate the confidential funds. Falsification of documents is committed by making it appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not, in fact, participate,” Pimentel added.

Luistro said the revelations during the House panel inquiry on the confidential fund use should prompt the appropriate agencies to investigate and file necessary charges, if needed, since the House of Representatives role is limited to legislation and recommendation on the filing of criminal or administrative raps.

“Considering that the amounts involved here far surpass the threshold for plunder, na mas kilala bilang pandarambong, it is my humble position na dapat po talaga ay ipagpatuloy at mapalalim pa ang imbestigasyon upang malaman kung sino ang nakinabang sa meron ito. Such an investigation may not be for Congress to conduct anymore,” Luistro said.

“Again, our ultimate purpose here is to legislate,” Luistro added.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Office of the Vice President Duterte for comment and will publish it as soon as it becomes available. —LDF, GMA Integrated News