WARNING
FOUR officials of the Office of Vice President (OVP) including Vice President Sara Duterte’s assistant chief of staff, were warned that they would soon face criminal charges and possible imprisonment for repeatedly defying invitations and subpoenas issued by a committee of the House of Representatives.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua, chairman of the House committee on good government and public accountability, issued the warning after the four failed to attend the committee’s inquiry for the sixth time.
Chua’s panel is looking into the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds received by the OVP (P500 million) and the Department of Education (P112.5 million) in 2022 and 2023 when the Vice President was education secretary.
Threatened with criminal charges were Lemuel Ortonio, OVP chief of staff; Gina Acosta, OVP special disbursing officer; Sunshine Fajarda, former Department of Education (DepEd) assistant secretary; and her husband Edward, former DepEd special disbursing officer.
In the course of sixth hearing, Chua and members of his committee collectively expressed their frustration over the repeated refusal of the four to attend the committee’s inquiry, with Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel declaring, “Mr. Chair, niloloko na tayo ng mga ito.”
Chua said the committee would not hesitate to file criminal charges against the four.
“They are public officers, and under the law, they have the duty to attend congressional hearings,” he said.
In fact, he said the Supreme Court had declared in one case that attendance in a House or Senate hearing “is mandatory when one is summoned.”
He added that failure to honor a congressional subpoena “is subject to criminal sanctions under Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code.”
The code imposes the penalty of arresto mayor (one month and one day to six months), or a fine of P40,000 to P200,000, or both, on “any person who, having been duly summoned to attend as a witness before Congress, its special or standing committee and subcommittees…refuses without legal excuse to obey such summons.”
It further provides: “The same penalty shall be imposed upon any person who shall induce disobedience to summons or refusal to be sworn by any such body or official.”
The law also penalizes a summoned witness who “refuses to be sworn or placed under affirmation or to answer any legal inquiry.”
Upon motion by Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, Chua cited Ortonio in contempt a second time “for disrespecting the committee.”
