House Speaker Martin Romualdez broke his silence on financial controversies hounding Vice President Sara Duterte, challenging her to shed light on the alleged misuse of Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).
On the sidelines of the ‘Tabang Bicol, Tindog Oragon’ relief mission in Albay, he pointed out that only Duterte could fully explain how she had spent taxpayers’ money.
“She should show up, take the oath, speak, and explain. Because even among her subordinates, it appears that only one [person] knows how the funds were spent,” Romualdez told reporters in Filipino.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe of Zamboanga City called out Duterte for supposedly executing a “calculated strategy of evasion and deflection” to avoid accountability for the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in CIF under her watch.
“Stop playing the victim. Enough with the appeal for pity,” he told the Vice President.
He also urged Duterte to should refrain from using her staff as “human shields.”
“It is about time she faces Congress, answer the questions, and stop blaming others for her failures and fear of accountability,” Dalipe said.
This was Dalipe’s response to Duterte’s claim that her staff at the OVP and DepEd did not deserve the intense grilling they were subjected to during the House’s ongoing investigation into the allegedly misspent funds.
The Zamboanga lawmaker dismissed Duterte’s remarks as “yet another budol [persuading through misinformation] tactic from the Vice President.”
“The Vice President has been hiding while letting her staff take the heat. This is pure cowardice disguised as victimhood,” Dalipe added.
Despite the gravity of the issue, Vice President Duterte has attended only once—during the first hearing—where she refused to take an oath, read a prepared statement, and left without addressing lawmakers’ questions.
“Instead of addressing the questions head-on, Vice President Duterte spins a narrative to paint herself as a victim of political persecution. The truth is, this isn’t about politics—it’s about accountability,” Dalipe emphasized.
Key OVP officials described as part of Duterte’s “inner circle”—Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio, Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, and husband-and-wife Edward and Sunshine Charry Fajarda—have repeatedly ignored House invitations and subpoenas.
They have since been cited for contempt and ordered arrested.
The inquiry took a dramatic turn during the sixth hearing when OVP Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez finally appeared after multiple invitations and a subpoena.
However, her evasive answers and apparent attempts to deflect accountability during Wednesday’s hearing caused her to be cited for contempt and detained by the House for “undue interference in the proceedings.”
As this developed, the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability is formally seeking help from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Philippine National Police (PNP) in verifying the identities of recipients of Duterte’s CIF.
Among them is the elusive “Mary Grace Piattos,” who some speculate may not even truly exist.
The committee resolved to seek assistance from the various agencies after Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon initiated the motion.
“I would like to move that this dubious, spurious, and highly irregular [acknowledgment receipts] be referred to the [PSA] to verify the names enumerated therein if these persons really exist,” Bongalon said.
“I would like to move also that the [ARs] be referred to the [NBI] and the [PNP] for them to assist us in conducting a handwriting or signature examination to verify whether the recipients of these confidential funds are real or not, with Ms. Mary Grace Piattos as the first priority,” he added.
