By Shayne Elizabeth T. Flores

Noting her failure to account for the anomalies observed in her office, 75 petitioners from various sectors filed the second impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte for “betrayal of public trust” in the House of Representatives last December 4.

The complainants predominantly consist of youth groups, public school teachers, government employees, religious leaders, workers, peasants, human rights victims, and former Congress members. Three were unable to attend the filing.

Citing the vice president’s gross abuse of confidential funds, systemic cover-up through fabricated reports, and deliberate obstruction of congressional investigation and oversight, the complainants accused Duterte of breaching public trust worthy of impeachment.

“Ang mga ginawang ito ni Vice President Sara Duterte ay pagtataksil sa tiwala na ibinigay sa kaniya ng taumbayan. Ito ay betrayal of the public trust. At dahil dito, karapat dapat lang na siya'y tanggalin sa puwesto at hindi na payagang humawak ng anumang puwesto sa gobyerno (These actions done by Vice President Sara Duterte are considered to be a betrayal of the trust given to her by the people. This is a betrayal of public trust. And because of this, she deserves to be removed from office and forbidden to hold any position in the government),” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Chairperson and Makabayan senatorial candidate Teddy Casiño said in a press statement..

The complaint was endorsed by Makabayan bloc representatives, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel. 

It coincides with Article XI, Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which provides that the vice president may be removed from office for “culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust” and may be filed by “any Member of the House of Representatives or by any citizen upon a resolution of endorsement by any Member thereof.”

Casiño also stressed the need to hold government officials accountable to the public.

“With public trust comes public accountability. Dahil ipinagkatiwala ng ating taumbayan sa ating mga public officials ang ating kapangyarihan, sila ay accountable to the people at all times. Hindi lang ‘pag ito'y convenient sa kanila. Hindi lang ‘pag trip nila. Kundi sa lahat ng oras (Since our people entrusted our public officials with our power, they are accountable to the people at all times. Not only if it is convenient for them, but all the time),” he stated.

Confidential funds

Last November, the House of Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability projected that the vice president’s misuse of confidential funds could cost up to P612.5 million.

P500 million was allocated to the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds, while P112.5 million was given to the Department of Education (DepEd), where Duterte served as secretary for two years from 2022 before resigning this year.

Throughout the latter half of 2022 and the entire year 2023, the OVP received a total of P625 million confidential funds. The Commission on Audit (COA) then flagged irregularities in the office’s expenditures upon reviewing P500 million of the amount.

This includes the OVP’s unusual spending of P125 million in just 11 days in December 2022.

"The Vice President's brazen misuse of more than half a billion pesos in confidential funds, particularly the suspicious liquidation of P125 million in just 11 days at the end of 2022, represents a grave betrayal of public trust. The Commission on Audit itself has flagged these expenditures as very questionable and not in accordance with the law and guidelines on the use of confidential funds,” Casiño said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, P15 million of confidential funds was allocated by DepEd to youth leadership summits and other anti-extremism programs. However, P11.49 million of said funds remain unaccounted for.

Moreover, the vice president’s confidential funds expenditure jumped to P375 million in 2023, three times higher than the 2022 spendings.

“Ang paglustay ng confidential funds ay isang malaking pagtataksil sa taumbayan. Hindi lang ito simpleng technical violation kun’di sistematikong paglulustay at pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan (The embezzlement of confidential funds is a great betrayal of the people. It is not just a simple technical violation, but a systematic embezzlement and theft of the public treasury)," Makabayan co-chairperson and senatorial candidate Liza Maza added in the same press statement.

Apart from confidential funds, COA also noted increases in the OVP’s other expenses.

From the P20.11 million travel expenses shared with former VP Leni Robredo in 2022, Duterte’s travel expenses alone rose to P42.58 million in 2023.

The OVP also incurred a total of P1.28 billion expenses for assistance, subsidies, and welfare, which is thrice the amount of the P398.42 million spent in 2022.

Fabricated documents 

In relation to the OVP’s hefty expenses, Duterte was also slammed for questionable financial transparency reports as House lawmakers surfaced fabricated acknowledgement receipts (ARs) issued by the office.

Approximately 158 ARs worth P23.8 million were reported to have incorrect dates, which was described “strange” by 1-Rider Representative Rodge Gutierrez, supposing that they were issued by different people who could not have committed the same mistake repeatedly.

Additionally, 302 ARs were flagged for having unreadable names and five repeated names. Similarities in ink and handwriting were also observed across documents bearing the names and signatures of supposedly distinct people.

Existence of ‘migrant beneficiaries’ was also noted, referring to individual recipients of confidential funds from the DepEd and OVP.

According to an AR dated December 2022, a person named “Mary Grace Piattos” apparently received the majority of Duterte’s 125 million confidential funds among thousands of alleged recipients.

However, upon investigation, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) denied the individual's existence as no records of her name can be found in their database.

The same was confirmed by PSA regarding “Kokoy Villamin,” who was also listed as a recipient on ARs dated 2022 and 2023 with evident varying handwriting and signatures.

Negligence and ‘outbursts’

The vice president’s conduct in addressing the allegations was also scrutinized, as she frequently skips budget hearings and spars with House members.

Questions regarding the OVP’s P125-million confidential funds in 2022 were raised in the House Committee on Appropriations’s initial budget deliberations for Duterte’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 in August.

Though in attendance, the vice president refused to directly answer questions about the OVP’s funds and instead quarreled with house members, alleging their interrogation as “crucifixion.”

After deeming the first hearing unproductive, the House panel deferred the deliberations on the OVP's proposed budget to September 10 for its second round. However, neither Duterte nor any representative from her office showed up.

In a letter to House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the vice president remained firm in her decision to forego the opportunity to defend the budget, stating that she will fully rely on the Committee’s discretion and judgement on the OVP’s 2025 budget.

Nonetheless, the majority of the House members voted against suspending the budget hearing, questioning resource persons from COA and the Department of Budget and Management instead.

Meanwhile, the House of Committee on Good Government began their investigation into the OVP’s misuse of public funds by holding a hearing to discuss a lawmaker’s privilege speech on the subject on September 18.

Duterte made a surprise appearance but refused to take her oath to tell the truth and instead questioned the probe’s legitimacy.

Denying irregularities in her use of public funds, she went to accuse lawmakers of plotting her impeachment once more and eventually requested to leave the hearing early.

Moreover, the vice president failed to defend her proposed budget for 2025 as she snubbed the last day of the September hearings, which were delayed twice owing to her recurrent absences.

In a press statement, former Bayan Muna congressman and impeachment counsel Neri Colmenares pointed out that Duterte’s efforts to evade the investigation are contradictory to her vowed accountability as vice president.

"Nang mahuli ng Kamara ang anomalya, ginawa ni VP Duterte ang lahat para pagtakpan ang kaniyang kasalanan at pigilan ang paghahanap ng katotohanan. Tumanggi siyang humarap sa budget hearings at mga imbestigasyon ng Kongreso. Taliwas ito sa sinumpaang tungkulin ng Vice President na maging isang accountable public official (When the House caught the anomaly, VP Duterte did everything to cover up her misconduct and prevent the search for the truth. She refused to appear before budget hearings and Congressional investigations. This is contrary to the sworn duty of the Vice President to be an accountable public official),” the press statement said.

This goes on after Congress’s month-long recess, with Duterte declining to attend the House panel’s continued investigation into the OVP’s budget, including confidential funds on November 20.

On November 25, the vice president finally attended the seventh hearing for the OVP’s budget misuse and swore an oath to tell the truth. But just like the first hearing, Duterte protested against the proceedings while dodging the committee’s queries.

In addition to ongoing budget probes, Duterte is currently being investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for alleged grave threats under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and possible violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 after threatening to have President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. assassinated if she gets killed.

As of writing, while the vice president has confirmed her attendance at the next House hearing, she has yet to appear at the NBI’s probe, which has been rescheduled for December 11. 

With the foregoing issues, the complainants call on the Congress to swiftly act on the impeachment petition for the sake of the Filipino people, who bear the burden of funding government operations.

"Hindi dapat nilulustay ang pera ng taumbayan. Hindi dapat binababoy ang mga mekanismo ng accountability (People’s money should not be wasted. Accountability mechanisms should not be disrespected). The regime of fiscal impunity that has plagued the OVP since 2022 must end. VP Duterte must be held accountable through her removal from office and perpetual disqualification from holding public office,” Maza argued.

The progressive groups also encouraged the public to monitor the proceedings and join the call for transparency and accountability, as well as the abolition of all confidential funds that have bred corruption in the government.

Citing the same betrayal of trust, the first impeachment complaint against Duterte was filed just two days earlier, on December 2. The 17 complainants included religious leaders, sectoral representatives, and families of drug war victims.

Along with the second impeachment filing, BAYAN conducted a demonstration to demand accountability and voice public outrage over the multimillion peso confidential fund scandal on Batasan Road.

(Photo by Maria TAN/ABS-CBN News)