‘Tama na ang drama, hallucination, at pambubudol’
LEADERS of the House of Representatives on Sunday rallied behind Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, dismissing Vice President Sara Duterte’s latest statements as a desperate attempt to shift public attention from her own controversies regarding alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds.
Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David “Jay-Jay” Suarez, and Majority Leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” M. Dalipe emphasized that the Speaker and the House of Representatives have consistently adhered to transparency and good governance.
“Marahil, nag ha-hallucinate na siya, kaya ang advice ko sa kanya ay kumonsulta sa mga doktor,” Gonzales said.
“Malinis ang report ng Commission on Audit (COA) sa paggamit ng pera ng taong bayan ng House of Representatives under Speaker Romualdez, ‘di gaya ng Office of the Vice President (OVP) under VP Duterte,” he added.
Suarez said, “‘Yung mga paratang ni Vice President Duterte, istorya, drama, at budol-budol lang ‘yan. Sanay sila diyan, eksperto sila diyan sa budol-budol.”
“Diversionary lang ‘yun sa di maipaliwanang na paggastos ng P612.5 million na confidential funds na tinanggap ng OVP (P500 million) and Department of Education (DepEd) noong siya ay education secretary pa,” Suarez said.
Dalipe said the allegation that Speaker Romualdez’s supposed plan to run for President motivated the House to look into the Vice President’s alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds “has no basis at all.”
“The House wanted to protect public funds and acted on the COA report questioning hundreds of millions of pesos in CIF expenses by Madam Sara Duterte as Vice President and as DepEd secretary,” he said.
In fact, Dalipe said the audit commission has disallowed P73 million of the P125 million in CIF spent by the OVP in December 2022 and has flagged more than P160 million of the P325 million disbursed in the first three quarters of 2023.
“Pinababalik ng COA sa kaban kay VP Duterte ‘yung P73 million dahil diumano iligal ang paggastos nito,” he added.
Gonzales said the House would not be investigating illegal activities like drug trafficking, money laundering, and hoarding and price manipulation of consumer products if it is benefiting from illicit practices as alleged by the Vice President.
“Bakit pa kami mag-iimbestiga kung may nakikinabang sa amin sa mga ilegal na gawain? Eh di sana tumahimik na lang kami,” he said.
Suarez said the Vice President has consistently refused to explain her use of confidential funds despite repeated invitations by the House to do so.
“Isa lang ang dahilan ng kanyang pagtanggi: wala siyang paliwanag sa paggamit ng P612.5 million confidential funds. Hindi niya maipapaliwanang ‘yung mga resibong walang pirma, walang pangalan, di mabasang pangalan, at pangalan ng bakeshop at isang popular na snack na tumanggap ng mga impormante daw at tumanggap ng daang libo na reward,” Suarez said referring to a certain Mary Grace Piattos who allegedly received confidential funds.
This is the reason why Vice President Sara would do all she could, including resorting to theatrics and making unfounded accusations, to evade accountability for misusing public funds, he said.
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