IMPOSSIBLE
A lawmaker yesterday sounded the alarm over the disbursement records of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education, both led by Vice President Sara Duterte, pointing to the “physical impossibility” of distributing millions of pesos in cash across multiple provinces in a single day.
During the hearing of the House Blue Ribbon Committee, formally known as the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez presented acknowledgment receipts (ARs) that showed suspicious disbursement patterns by special disbursing officers (SDOs) from the OVP and DepEd involving confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs).
Gutierrez highlighted instances where the SDOs, Gina Acosta of the OVP and Edward Fajarda of DepEd, allegedly distributed CIFs across multiple, geographically distant locations in a single day. Both SDOs are reportedly trusted aides of Vice President Duterte.
Notably, Fajarda and Acosta have never appeared in any of the six hearings conducted by the committee. Their repeated absences led to their being cited for contempt, with the committee issuing arrest orders against them.
In the absence of the SDOs, Gutierrez directed his questions to lawyer Gloria Camora, head of the Commission on Audit unit that audited CIFs of both the OVP and DepEd under Duterte’s leadership.
Gutierrez cited records showing that Fajarda reportedly disbursed funds in seven different locations across the country just one day after encashing a P37.5-million check.
“On February 21, 2023, or the very next day after the SDO encashed the P37.5 million in checks, lumabas po sa acknowledgment receipts that SDO Fajarda made seven disbursements already,” Gutierrez said.
“This is the day after—in seven different locations: Malolos, Davao, San Francisco (Agusan del Sur), Makati City, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and Davao City,” he added, questioning the feasibility of such rapid movements.
“The check was issued and encashed in Land Bank under the DepEd branch in Pasig. And immediately the next day, he traveled to these seven places and had these seven ARs. Did this not raise a red flag of the impossibility of this occurring?” Gutierrez asked.
The lawmaker also pointed to an extreme example from March 15, 2023, when Fajarda allegedly made 26 disbursements in a single day across locations spanning Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
“On March 15, 2023, SDO Fajarda supposedly made 26 disbursements in the following locations: Davao del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Oriental Mindoro, Laguna, Zamboanga del Sur, Cebu, Ifugao, Antique, Batanes, Pampanga, Legazpi, Lanao del Norte, Batangas, Tarlac, Metro Manila, Samar, Davao de Oro, Agusan del Norte, Cavite, and Surigao del Norte,” he said.
“Atty. Camora, even if we gave him (Fajarda) a helicopter, I don’t think he could do that in one day,” Gutierrez stressed.
The legislator also expressed disbelief at Fajarda’s certification of the transactions.
“It really raises the question: How did SDO Fajarda certify and say that he personally disbursed this? From north to south, tip to tip ito ng Pilipinas—may Batanes pa rin po. These are the questions that we have,” he said.
Gutierrez likewise flagged similarly questionable disbursement patterns in the OVP.
He cited a specific instance where Acosta reportedly distributed over P15 million in a single day on December 23, 2022, to 103 recipients for expenses ranging from rewards to “purchase of supplies.”
The Joint Circular on Confidential Funds mandates that SDOs personally handle and account for every peso disbursed.
Yet, Gutierrez pointed to systemic violations, suggesting that some, if not all, ARs may have been fabricated.
He pressed further on the notarized certifications signed by Acosta and Fajarda, along with Vice President Duterte, declaring the funds were used appropriately—a claim he described as “implausible.”
