Four officials subpoenaed by a House panel investigating the alleged misuse of Office of the Vice President (OVP) funds have signaled their intent to surrender, according to the committee chair on Monday.
Rep. Chua revealed that the committee had received “feelers” indicating that the four OVP officials may now be willing to surrender and attend the upcoming hearing.
The four officials named by Chua are Lemeul Ortonio, Gina Acosta, Sunshine Fajarda, and Eduard Fajarda.
As of press time, the OVP has yet to comment on the reports of the officials’ intentions to surrender. The committee is set to continue its investigation into the OVP’s fund usage on Monday morning.
Lawmakers had warned last week that the officials would face criminal and administrative charges if they continued to defy the panel’s subpoenas and invitations.
The committee had previously cited the four in contempt for repeatedly failing to attend hearings on the budget use of the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) when Vice President Sara Duterte headed it.
The Commission on Audit (COA) recently issued a Notice of Disallowance for P73 million out of the P125 million confidential funds disbursed by the OVP under Duterte’s leadership in just 11 days.
COA Assistant Commissioner Alexander Juliano clarified during the OVP’s 2025 budget deliberations that the Notice of Disallowance meant the expenditure was deemed “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable.”
Duterte, who has refused to attend the hearings, has denied any misuse of OVP funds, dismissing the inquiry as a politically motivated attempt to set her up for impeachment.
She has also accused the Marcos administration of using her as a “punching bag” to divert attention from corruption within the government.