HOUSE PANEL WARNS 7 OVP EXECS: ATTEND HEARING OR FACE ARREST

THE House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on Sunday warned the seven officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) that they could be ordered arrested if they continue to snub the committee’s summons.

The panel has set another hearing Monday, November 11, 2024 into allegations of misuse of public funds in the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd).

The OVP officials who have been subpoenaed by the committee were the chief of staff of Vice President Sara Duterte Zuleika Lopez; assistant chief of staff and Bids and Awards Committee chair Lemuel Ortonio; Administrative and Financial Services director Rosalynne Sanchez; Special Disbursing officer Gina Acosta; chief accountant Julieta Villadelrey; and couple Edward and Sunshine Charry Fajarda, who were previously with the DepEd and transferred to the OVP when Duterte resigned as Education secretary in June.

Only Sanchez and Villadelrey have confirmed their attendance to the November 11 hearing.

“The committee has summoned these officials multiple times, yet they continue to disregard our lawful requests to appear,” committee chair Manila Rep. Joel 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 Manila solon added.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has informed the Chua panel that one of the seven officials, Zuleika Lopez, left for Los Angeles, California last November 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 Education Department when Duterte was DepEd secretary.

The Commission on Audit has issued a notice of disallowance on P73 million of the P125 million in confidential funds spent by the OVP in just 11 days in December 2022.

The state auditor directed Duterte, Acosta and Villadelrey to return the disallowed amount due to either the absence of supporting documents or the submission of deficient acknowledgment receipts to justify its use.