MANILA, Philippines — Four officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), who were previously cited for contempt by the House of Representatives Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, appeared at Monday’s hearing after repeatedly avoiding earlier invitations.
The committee secretariat confirmed the presence of the following OVP officials at the session:
- Lemuel Ortonio, Assistant Secretary and Chair of the Bids and Awards Committee
- Gina Acosta, Special Disbursing Officer
- Sunshine Fajarda, former Assistant Secretary at the Department of Education (DepEd)
- Edward Fajarda, former DepEd official
The committee confirmed that the four officials would attend after Rep. Joel Chua and the committee chair, indicated they had received signals of their attendance.
“There was a feeler that the four officials would be here, so we hope that’s what we will see today,” Chua remarked, acknowledging the shift in the officials’ willingness to cooperate.
On November 11, the four were cited for contempt by the committee, led by Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop, for continuously disregarding invitations and subpoenas to attend hearings.
The presence of the OVP officials is seen as crucial to the committee’s investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds by the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), particularly concerning the handling of confidential funds.
Lawmakers are hoping the officials will clarify discrepancies surrounding acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for the confidential funds.
Concerns were raised after reports showed instances where the ARs were signed by the same person but displayed different signatures.
During the November 20 hearing, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong presented two ARs — one from the OVP and the other from DepEd — both of which were signed by a certain Kokoy Villamin.
The OVP’s AR, signed on September 17, 2023, featured a longer signature than the one on the DepEd AR, which lacked a date.
The issue of AR discrepancies was previously raised during the November 5 hearing, where Acop pointed out that several ARs were signed by someone named Mary Grace Piattos, whose name was notably similar to a popular coffee shop and a famous potato chip brand.
These ARs were part of the P23.8 million in confidential funds, which were backed by 158 receipts.