House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability summarized the laws that Vice President Sara Duterte might have violated in the alleged misuse of her P612M confidential funds.
Members of the committee pointed out that after seven hearings on the issue, they found that Duterte possibly committed malversation of public fund, bribery and plunder offenses.
This happened as the committee ended its probe on the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).
The house panel is yet to come up with the committee report but the alleged violations of Duterte are the observations of the members.
Committee Chairman Representative Joel Chua clarified that the entire hearing is not yet terminated but only the issue of confidential funds because there are still concerns that the members want to discuss.
Despite their findings, the committee did not confirm if they will recommend the filing of criminal charges against the vice president and her aides.
Committee member Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said the committee is still to finalize their recommendations but eventually they will propose to concerned agencies what to do with their findings.
Prior to this, Representative Chua confirmed that there are no official records of the 405 out of 677 names who allegedly received money from Duterte’s confidential funds.
According to Chua, based on the certification of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the 405 names do not have birth certificates or non-existent.
The PSA earlier said that the names of Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin had no records in the civil registry.
Piattos and Villamin are among the hundreds of names which allegedly received huge amount of money from Duterte’s confidential funds.
Duterte had repeatedly denied allegations of misuse of her confidential funds by saying she is just a victim of political persecutions.
(HRep photo)
Abner is an award-winning journalist. He received the prestigious 2015 Titus Brandsma Award for Community Communication in the Philippines and participated in the 2016 International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the United States of America, sponsored by the US Embassy in the Philippines. Founder of WATCH NORTH COTABATO, a media-citizens’ transparency group. He worked as a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and CNN Philippines. His experience in broadcasting includes anchoring for Brigada News FM in Kidapawan and General Santos City and Brigada News TV. He anchors Tira Brigada via 105.1 Brigada News FM Manila, Mondays-Saturdays.