Progressive groups demand accountability for over half a billion pesos in questionable expenditures, citing violation of laws, false reports, and obstruction of investigations.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The misuse of confidential funds is a betrayal of public trust.
This is the meat of the impeachment complaint filed by progressive groups against Vice President Sara Duterte. At least 75 complainants from different organizations filed the complaint at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
Former Bayan Muna Rep. and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Chairperson Teddy Casiño stressed that Duterte’s “brazen misuse of more than half a billion pesos in confidential funds, particularly the suspicious liquidation of P125 million ($2.150 million) in just 11 days at the end of 2022, represents a grave betrayal of public trust.”
“The Commission on Audit (COA) itself has flagged these expenditures as very questionable and not in accordance with the law and guidelines on the use of confidential funds,” Casiño added.
“The misuse of confidential funds is a great betrayal to the people. It is not just a simple technical violation, but a systematic plundering and stealing from the public coffers,” Makabayan President and senatorial aspirant Liza Maza said.
Basis of betrayal of public trust
The groups cited three issues on the betrayal of public trust. First is Duterte’s “gross abuse of discretionary powers over P612.5 million ($10.5 million) in supposed confidential funds December 2022 until third quarter of 2023.”
“Never before in the history of the country has there been a public official documented to have such highly questionable spending in such a short period of time,” the complaint read.
It will be remembered that in 2023, during the plenary debates on House Bill 8980 or the 2024 General Appropriations Bill at the House of Representatives, COA confirmed that for the year 2022, the Office of the Vice President has spent P125 million of confidential funds in just 11 days.
Meanwhile, in 2023, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) spent P375 million of confidential funds and P112.5 million for the Department of Education when she was still serving as its secretary.
Duterte also betrayed public trust by her “gross disregard of transparency and accountability, making a mockery of the audit process by 1) ordering subordinates to prepare implausible accomplishment reports supported by fabricated liquidation reports and falsified documents and 2) to submit the same to the Commission on Audit to support the questionable use of confidential funds that is not in accordance with laws and regulations, causing great injury to the government and the taxpayers.”
“Respondent’s calculated deception of the COA represents an egregious betrayal of public trust that strikes at the heart of government accountability. Through her actions and directives, she has attempted to conceal the true use of an astounding 612.5 million in confidential funds—P500 million for the OVP and P112.5 million for the DepEd—within her first eighteen months in office,” the complaint read.
It added, “this amount, equivalent to more than half a billion pesos of taxpayer’s money, could have funded vital social services such as classrooms, healthcare facilities, or poverty alleviation programs.”
The complaint added that the “magnitude of funds involved, combined with the elaborate scheme to deceive auditors through falsified receipts and misappropriated certifications, demonstrates not just a casual disregard for proper procedure, but a calculated effort to subvert the very mechanisms designed to protect public funds from misuse. Such conduct makes a mockery of the constitutional principle that public office is a public trust.”
Third basis for the betrayal of public trust is Duterte’s dereliction of official duty, “with her willful refusal to recognize congressional oversight during budget deliberations and its authority to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.”
The complaint noted Duterte’s refusal to answer the issues raised by the House Committee on Appropriations during the budget hearing and her refusal to cooperate in the investigation of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability as well as the attempts to obstruct the House’s investigation by directing COA not to comply with a lawful congressional subpoena, among others.
The complainants asserted that the Constitution does not permit such cynical disregard for public trust.
“It does not allow the Vice-President to treat public funds as a personal war chest while stonewalling all attempts at oversight. The magnitude of funds involved—P612.5 million in just eighteen months—demands explanation, not evasion. Each peso misspent represents a child without a classroom, a patient without medicine, a poor family without support.”
“The betrayal of public trust evident in respondent’s actions represents a fundamental breach of the covenant between public servant and citizen—a breach so severe that it can only be remedied by her removal from office through impeachment with the penalty of permanent disqualification from holding public office. It is time to put an end to the regime of fiscal impunity that has plagued the Office of the Vice President since 2022,” it added.
Casiño urged the Congress to act on the impeachment complaint.
“The Filipino people, especially our taxpayers who bear the burden of funding government operations, deserve accountability from their second highest official,” added Casiño.
They also urged the public to closely monitor these proceedings and join the growing clamor for transparency, accountability, and the complete abolition of all confidential funds that have become a source of corruption in government.
Lawyer and Kabataan Partylist first nominee Renee Louise Co also stressed that Duterte’s impeachment is just the beginning, not the end.
“Even if VP Sara is held accountable, the Marcoses still hold control over confidential funds and unprogrammed appropriations in our budget. While billions are cut from education and from state universities and colleges, corruption continues without end. Confidential funds must be abolished, and the number one enabler of thieves, the Marcos dynasty, must also be held accountable. We must leave behind this corrupt politics, especially with the upcoming 2025 elections,” she said.
This is the second impeachment complaint filed against Duterte. Among the complainants were from the youth, public school teachers, government employees, religious leaders, workers and peasants, human rights victims along with former members of congress. (RTS, RVO)
