VP Sara to skip anew House probe on budget use

MANILA, Philippines — Despite personally receiving an invitation, Vice President Sara Duterte said she will not attend the hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability on Nov. 20 on her alleged misuse of the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s confidential funds.

In a chance interview with reporters on the sidelines of the OVP’s 89th anniversary celebration yesterday, Duterte lamented that she was not asked any questions by lawmakers when she attended an earlier hearing of the committee.

“They invited me once, during the first hearing. And I attended, I sat there but they did not ask me any questions. You can see it (in the videos), I was just sitting there, my time was wasted. So, I asked if I could leave already and they allowed me. I don’t understand why they invited me but did not even ask me any question,” Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Duterte was referring to the hearing last Sept. 18, wherein she refused to be placed under oath, saying she was not invited as a witness but as a resource person.

“When you sent a letter to the Office of the Vice President, you attached a copy of the rules in aid of legislation. It was stated there (in the rules) that only witnesses shall be placed under oath,” Duterte back then told the House panel members.

Last Wednesday, Duterte was served with a fresh invitation to attend the next hearing when she made a surprise appearance at the House quad committee hearing on extrajudicial killings committed in connection with the war on drugs under the administration of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

The Vice President, nonetheless, maintained that there was no misuse in the budgets of the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was still its secretary.

In her interview with reporters yesterday, Duterte said she has no plan of attending any more hearings by the House committee on good government and public accountability.

“I will no longer attend the upcoming hearings. Because I already went there before, and they did nothing, they just let me sit there,” Duterte said in Filipino.

Duterte nonetheless said she will send to the House committee a sworn affidavit explaining the OVP’s confidential fund spending as well as a position paper on some other issues.

“We plan to send a letter, we plan to say why (we are not attending the hearing). And I plan as well to submit an affidavit about the confidential funds, that affidavit will be under oath, anyway. And for all the other (issues) we plan to tell them (House committee members) what they can do to me,” Duterte said.

The OVP had earlier slammed the House committee’s probe on its confidential funds expenses, saying that the audit process by the Commission on Audit (COA) is not yet final.

“The Office of the Vice President maintains that the ongoing congressional inquiry by the House committee on good government and public accountability is unnecessary and plagued with irregularities in the conduct of the proceedings,” the OVP said in a press statement early this month.

Evading responsibility

For Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega of La Union and Assistant Majority Leader Jay Khonghun of Zambales, the Vice President was apparently evading responsibility and accountability by refusing to face lawmakers.

“She refused to appear in our inquiry because she does not want to be asked, she is afraid to be questioned. Her refusal to appear is part of her strategy to avoid her responsibility and accountability for the misuse of public funds,” Ortega said. He also slammed Duterte’s refusal to take the oath.

“A person who does not want to accept a simple oath to tell the truth, meaning she is not prepared to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, that is why we don’t ask her,” Ortega said. — Jose Rodel Clapano