DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 6 Nov) – No less than Vice President Sara Duterte has approved the 13-day US trip of Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, one of the seven officials invited as resource speakers who refused to attend the House of Representatives’ inquiry on the alleged misuse of public funds on Tuesday.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP), in a statement issued on Tuesday evening, said that the travel overseas of Lopez, Duterte’s chief of staff, from Nov. 4 to 16 was “personal and unrelated to her employment with the OVP.”
“Usec. Lopez appropriately submitted documents required of traveling government officials, which were approved by the Vice President,” it added.
Lopez left Manila for Los Angeles aboard Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight PR 102 at 7:31 p.m. on Monday, a day before the scheduled investigation in aid of legislation by the Committee on Good Governance and Accountability of the House of Representatives.
The OVP said that speculations about the purpose of travel were “unfounded and unnecessary.”
No reason was provided for her travel to the US but the OVP requested the public “to respect the privacy of the family in this difficult time.”
In refusing to attend the House inquiry, Lopez, along with other executives of the OVP, submitted a position paper, questioning the authority of the committee and the validity of the ongoing proceedings. Other invited OVP officials also included lawyers Rosalynne Sanchez and Sunshine Charry A. Fajarda, Lemuel Ortonio, Julieta Villaderey, Gina Acosta, and Edward Fajarda.
The position paper stated that the ongoing House inquiry is not conducted “in aid of legislation” and that the Committee on Good Governance and Accountability “has no jurisdiction to make an inquiry.”
They also maintained that as officials of the OVP, they “may decline the invitations of the committee and validly refuse to take part in the proceedings.”
The OVP officials also reasoned that the committee’s invitation dated Nov. 1 and sent via email on the same day was read by them only on Nov. 4, due to the declared legal holiday.
Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (1st Dist., Lanao del Sur) expressed dismay over the consistent refusal of the OVP executives to appear before the committee.
Last Tuesday’s inquiry marked the fourth time in which they refused to attend. The House would send them subpoena testificandum to require their attendance to the next investigation.
“We have been very lenient to these individuals… I would suggest to the committee to issue them a subpoena testificandum, so that they may be required to appear before this committee hearing because I believe their testimonies would be material for this committee to arrive at a sound judgement once we file our committee report,” he said.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. maintained that the House is mandated by the 1987 Philippine Constitution to scrutinize the utilization of budget of government agencies.
He said that the Rules on Inquiries of the House allow invited resource speakers two absences before it could cite them in contempt.
The lawmaker said that the officials could be avoiding the House inquiry.
“Kaya sa akin po nakaka-disappoint sapagkat dapat ipaliwanag sa taumbayan kung paano ba ginamit ang pondo ng taumbayan (It’s disappointing to me because it should be explained to the people how the funds were used),” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
