Vice President Sara Duterte urged lawmakers to halt what she described as unsubstantiated testimonies, particularly that of former Education Undersecretary Gloria Mercado, that only sought to undermine her reputation.
“As attempts to besmirch my reputation continue, I encourage our lawmakers to stop tapping witnesses that have no credibility or have questionable motives,” she said.
Duterte insisted Mercado was part of a “political machinery” deployed against her.
Mercado earlier told the House committee on good government and public accountability she received envelopes containing P50,000 monthly from the Vice President, who was then DepEd secretary.
Mercado said she was given the money, allegedly a form of “payola,” while she was serving as the Head of the Procuring Entity (HOPE) at DepEd.
Duterte, however, dismissed the allegation, saying Mercado has an ax to grind after she was dismissed for unauthorized solicitation of P16 million from a private sector entity, using the Vice President’s name without approval.
“Aside from facing a corruption case, Mercado is also known for her attitude of maligning her colleagues, including high-level officials of DepEd,” Duterte said.
Mercado earlier explained the solicitation was misunderstood and clarified the program in question involved external partnerships for DepEd’s projects.
According to Mercado, DepEd developed two key programs: DepEd-Guro, an app allowing communication with 980,000 teachers, and an electronic version of the Registry of Qualified Applicants (RQA).
Mercado said the DepEd External Partnership Office was responsible for finding corporate partners to support these projects, and that her team only presented the concept to potential partners.
Mercado explained that two corporations offered to fund the full projects, and no cash was involved—only equipment was provided.
As this developed, a lawmaker challenged Duterte and Mercado to take a lie detector test following the alleged monthly “payola” claim.
“If in her heart, VP Duterte really feels that she is telling the truth, she and Usec. Mercado should take a lie detector test to find out who is telling the truth,” Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun said.
“If VP Duterte is not hiding anything, there should be no issue in taking the lie detector test. It is important for the people to know who is telling the truth between the two of them. The issue involves public funds, and the Vice President owes it to the people to prove her honesty and integrity,” he added.
Mercado testified she received nine envelopes between February 2023 and September 2023, each containing P50,000.
She said the envelopes were handed to her by Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda, who claimed they came directly from Vice President Duterte.
Meanwhile, Rep. Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur raised concerns over the alleged misuse of P112.5 million in confidential funds by the Department of Education (DepEd) for questionable youth seminars under then-Secretary Duterte.
The funds, supposedly earmarked for Youth Leadership Summits, are now under intense scrutiny due to a lack of proper documentation and questionable liquidation reports, he said.
“Just to feed almost 3,000 students, will we spend P112.5 million? Even if they stay in a hotel for three months, the P112.5 million will not be used up,” he said.
The lawmaker cited the audit observation memorandums (AOMs) from the Commission on Audit which flagged cash advances and liquidation reports for the summits.
