FOUR officials of the Office of Vice President (OVP) Sara Duterte, including her assistant chief of staff, were warned Wednesday 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, who chairs the 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 Wednesday’s 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 Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel declaring, “Mr. Chair, niloloko na tayo ng mga ito.”
Chua said his 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…”
It is not clear if in the history of the Philippine Congress, a resource person or witness had been jailed for refusing to obey a House or Senate subpoena.
But in the United States, there have been instances when public officers suffered imprisonment for defying Congress.
Just last month, an ally of newly elected US President Donald Trump finished his four-month-jail-term penalty for refusing to comply with a subpoena of the US House of Representatives.
Aside from criminal charges, Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. David “Jay-jay” Suarez suggested that the committee look into the possibility of filing administrative cases against the four OVP officials.
Chua, Suarez, Manuel and other committee members expressed exasperation over the repeated refusal of the Ortonio and his colleagues to attend the inquiry and answer questions on the use of the P612.5-million OVP and DepEd CIFs.
Suarez said Ortonio even promised to show up in Wednesday’s hearing but was absent.
Manuel said the common excuse of the four that they were on “official travel” was “petty.”
“It’s a convenient excuse. Di na sila natitinag sa contempt and arrest order,” observed Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong.
Taguig City Rep. Pammy Zamora moved that the committee forward the contempt and arrest orders against Ortonio, Acosta and the Fajardas to the Bureau of Immigration with a request that a “lookout bulletin be issued to prevent them from fleeing the country to evade our investigation.”
Upon motion by Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Jil Bongalon, Chua cited Ortonio in contempt a second time “for disrespecting the committee.”
Chua said if Zuleika Lopez, Vice President Duterte’s chief of staff, was able to show up in Wednesday’s inquiry after a trip to the United States, he could not understand why the four could consistently defy his committee.
Responding to questions from committee members, Lopez and Rosalynne Sanchez, who heads the OVP administrative services department, could not tell who signed the travel orders for Ortonio, Acosta and the Fajardas, and what places they were allowed to travel to.
The common answer of the two was they have not seen the travel orders.
However, they admitted that it is “the head of the agency,” referring to VP Duterte, who signs travel orders
