House warns OVP execs: Attend probe or face arrest

MANILA, Philippines — Failure on the part of seven officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to face today’s hearing of the House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability could lead to their arrest, Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua warned yesterday.

“The committee has summoned these officials multiple times, yet they continue to disregard our lawful requests to appear,” Chua said. “These absences reflect a blatant disregard for the authority of Congress and are unacceptable. If they fail to appear again, we are prepared to issue orders for their arrest.”

The Bureau of Immigration under the Department of Justice has informed the Chua panel that one of the seven officials, Zuleika Lopez, the chief of staff of Vice President Sara Duterte, left for Los Angeles, California last Nov. 4.

This was a day before Lopez was scheduled to appear before the House panel, which is conducting an inquiry on the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP and the Department of Education when Duterte was DepEd secretary.

Other OVP officials who were issued subpoenas were Lemuel Ortonio, assistant chief of staff who chaired the DepEd bids and awards committee during Duterte’s stint; Rosalynne Sanchez, administrative and financial services director; Gina Acosta, special disbursing officer; Julieta Villadelrey, chief accountant; and couple Sunshine Charry Fajarda and Edward Fajarda, former DepEd aides who reportedly transitioned to the OVP after Duterte’s resignation from being education chief.

So far, only Sanchez and Villadelrey have confirmed attendance in today’s hearing, according to Chua.

Should others continue their non-compliance, it would mark their continued absence despite subpoenas and repeated warnings from the committee.

“The committee has been more than fair in giving these officials ample opportunities to cooperate,” Chua pointed out.

“If they fail to appear this time, they leave us no choice but to impose heavier penalties, including contempt and potential arrest and detention,” he added. 

The committee is seeking explanations from the seven OVP officers on the alleged misuse of P500 million in confidential funds of the office and an additional P125 million of the DepEd when Duterte was education secretary.

The Commission on Audit has flagged almost half of the total and disallowed P73 million of the P125 million spent by the OVP in just 11 days during the last quarter of 2022.