DEPED CHIEF ACCOUNTANT ADMITS RECEIVING CASH ENVELOPES DURING VP SARA’S TERM

ANOTHER senior official from the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday admitted to receiving envelopes containing cash during Vice President Sara Duterte’s term as Education secretary.

DepEd chief accountant Rhunna Catalan is the fourth Education official to make such an admission before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability investigating the alleged misuse of funds by the DepEd and the Office of the Vice President (OVP), specifically the confidential funds.

“Yes, Sir,” Catalan confirmed when committee chair Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua asked if she had received envelopes from then-DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda, a trusted aide of the Vice President.

The amount was described to Catalan as allowance.

When further pressed by Chua, Catalan responded: “Minimal amount lang po, it’s 25,000 pesos.”

Catalan further revealed that she received the amount from Fajarda monthly over a nine-month period, from February to September 2023.

She also admitted being “requested” by Fajarda to sign the liquidation vouchers for the P112.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs), which were withdrawn as cash advances by Fajarda’s husband, Edward, who was Duterte’s special disbursing officer (SDO) at the DepEd.

The funds in question were withdrawn through three separate checks, each valued at P37.5 million, issued to then-SDO Fajarda. The cash advances were made in the first three quarters of 2023 when Duterte was leading the DepEd.

Catalan’s admission drew questions from Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano: “Edward Fajarda signed it. VP signed it, and you signed it. But you were requested by Ms. Fajarda?” he asked. Catalan answered: “Yes, Sir.”

“Mr. Chairman, all the more that… Ms. Sunshine Fajarda should be present in the next hearing para po patotohanan ‘yung statement ni Ms. Catalan,” Paduano added.

“Sabihin na natin, you were requested to sign it. So why did you sign it? As per request of Ms. Fajarda?,” the lawmaker asked.

“Yes, Your Honor, because it is needed as a covering letter or covering document to the liquidation documents, supporting documents,” Catalan answered.

The Fajarda couple was among the seven OVP officials subpoenaed and warned by the committee that they could face “a heavier penalty,” possibly a contempt citation and arrest order, if they fail to attend the next hearing.

In his interpellation, committee vice chair Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido Abante questioned whether Catalan had been requested or pressured to sign the liquidation reports.

“I was requested, Sir, in a nice way,” Catalan replied, maintaining that there was no coercion.

However, Abante challenged her perspective, pointing out the potential influence behind repeated cash payments. 

“You received an envelope nine times, am I right?” Abante asked. Catalan confirmed, “Yes, Your Honor.”

Abante pressed further: “Is that not a form of pressure?”

Catalan explained that when she first received the envelope, she had asked Fajarda if it was part of the confidential fund. 

According to Catalan, Fajarda assured her it was simply “an allowance from the Vice President.”

Abante remained unconvinced, suggesting that the cash payments could constitute implicit pressure to comply. 

“Those nine envelopes you received are a form of pressure on your part or from the same person that asked you to sign. Am I right?”

Catalan hesitantly replied: “Maybe, Your Honor.”

Assistant Secretary Fajarda was also named in previous testimony by former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado, who disclosed that she received regular cash payments from the Vice President allegedly intended to influence her in her role as the agency’s head of the procuring entity.

During the September 25 hearing, Mercado testified that she received envelopes containing P50,000 each month from February to September 2023, totaling P450,000, allegedly delivered by Assistant Secretary Fajarda on behalf of the Vice President.

On October 17, former DepEd Bids and Awards Committee chair Resty Osias disclosed that he, too, received envelopes containing between P12,000 and P15,000 each. 

Osias said that he was summoned to the office of then-Assistant Secretary Fajarda, who also served as Duterte’s Head Executive Assistant, to receive the envelopes.

He alleged he received four envelopes between April and September 2023, believing it was a “practice of the Department.”

Former DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa, who later transferred to the OVP, also admitted that he had “occasionally” received envelopes containing cash from both Fajarda and Duterte.