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A FORMER special disbursement officer (SDO) of the Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday testified before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability that a security officer at the DepEd was the one who disbursed the agency’s P112.5 million confidential funds in 2023 when Vice President Sara Duterte was still the education secretary.
Office of the Vice President (OVP) SDO Gina Acosta also told lawmakers that she disbursed P125 million of the agency’s 2023 secret funds to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
Fajarda and Acosta were among the four OVP officials who were earlier cited in contempt by the committee for their repeated refusal to attend the hearings. The other two are assistant chief of staff and Bids and Awards Committee chair Lemuel Ortonio and former DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Charry Fajarda.
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The Fajardas transferred to the OVP from DepEd when Duterte resigned as education secretary last July.
The Vice President attended the hearing yesterday to accompany the four OVP officials.
Duterte also took her oath to tell the truth for the first time after committee chairman Manila Rep. Joel Chua told her that she cannot be duly recognized to speak during the hearing if she will again refuse to take the oath like she did when she attended the panel’s first hearing last September 18.
“For the sake of the personnel of the Office of the Vice President. Clearly, sinasabi ni Joel Chua na (Joel Chua clearly said that) we will not recognize (me) without an oath,” she said. “I’m continuing to question the constitutionality of their rules pero (but) I cannot help the personnel of the Office of the Vice President if I have no personality to speak in that hearing,” the Vice President told reporters in an interview.
Lawmakers have been urging the Vice President to personally answer the questions hounding her use of confidential funds, especially after her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez was cited in contempt last week for denying knowledge on how the public funds were spent and for attempting to obstruct the House committee’s hearing when she wrote the Commission on Audit (COA) not to comply with the panel’s order to submit the audit reports on the confidential funds of the OVP and the DepEd.
DEPED SECRET FUNDS
Mr. Fajarda denied that he was the one who personally disbursed DepEd’s confidential funds even if he was the one who signed certifications on the use of the P112.5 million.
He pointed to a certain Col. Dennis Nolasco as the one who disbursed the funds, prompting the panel chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua to invite the officer to attend the next hearing.
AFP public affairs office chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad confirmed that “Lt. Col. Dennis Nolasco is an active officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who was formerly assigned with the Vice President Security and Protection Group (VPSPG). He is currently on schooling.”
On the questioning of Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, Mr. Fajarda said he released between P4 million to P6 million a week in confidential funds to Nolasco, who he said was supposedly designated by the head of the VPSPG, Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
Mr. Fajarda said he withdrew P37.5 million from the Land Bank of the Philippines branch at the DepEd compound thrice in 2023 and released the funds in weekly tranches to Nolasco, who was in-charge of the DepEd’s intelligence operations.
He said he carried the cash in three bags: one huge backpack and two duffle bags.
After Acop showed him copies of the three checks amounting to P37.5 million each, Mr. Fajarda told the panel that he only disbursed the funds to Nolasco “and nobody else.”
“Sa security officer lang po ako nagdi-disburse niyan. Wala na pong iba. Hindi po ‘yan buong P37.5 million na ibibigay sa kanya. Mostly weekly po yan. Weekly po. Nagre-range po sa P4 million to P6 million weekly (I only disbursed money to the security officer. It wasn’t the whole P37.5 million that I gave him. Most of the time, it was weekly. It ranged from P4 million to P6 million weekly),” he said.
Mr. Fajarda could not say how the funds were exactly used, saying he does not know the operational details. “Hindi po kasi ako ang expert dyan. Si Colonel Nolasco po. Siya po kasi ang gumawa niyan (I’m not an expert there. Col. Nolasco is. That’s his job),” he said.
Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (PL, 1-Rider) asked Mr. Fajarda if he was aware that he will be the one held liable if there are anomalies found in the use of confidential funds.
“If the CF has a problem, you are the one who will answer to the Treasury. Do you understand that, Mr. Fajarda?” he asked the resource person who said: ““Yes, Your Honor.”
“So how can you say now in full honesty, your certification, that you handled personally the disbursement of confidential funds?” Gutierrez asked Mr. Fajarda, who said: “I am disbursing confidential funds to the security officer.”
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OVP CONFI FUNDS
Acosta, who was rushed to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) early last night after her blood pressure spiked after intense questioning by Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, said she handed the OVP’s P125 million confidential funds to Lachica, who was assigned to CF management on orders of the Vice President.
Duterte left the hearing to check on Acosta when the latter started to feel ill.
Acosta said that whenever she withdrew the funds, she and Ortonio were escorted by two security drivers and it happened four times, from December 2022 to the third quarter of 2023.
“Ang head of agency ang nag-instruct na i-release sa aming security officer,” Acosta told Lusitro.
“May approval po kay VP Inday Sara. I trust si Col. Lachica dahil tina-trust po siya ni VP Inday Sara,” she added.
Acosta said she put the money in “traveling bags” and kept it in three vaults, each about four feet tall. She said the vaults were acquired specifically for such purpose.
She said the practice was to place the bags in an extension office, which only she holds the key to, for Lachica to pick up.
Acosta said she knew that she was the one to be held responsible in case anything untoward happens to the money.
“Who will be responsible in case this money is misappropriated? Who will be responsible in case this money is lost? Who will be responsible in case this money went to the wrong person?” Luistro asked, to which Acosta replied: “It’s me.”
Both Mr. Fajarda and Acosta said the security officers were the ones who paid intelligence providers and safe houses, but Luistro told Acosta she as the disbursing officer, should be the one “actually paying all the recipients.”
Acosta said she was just following instructions because it was Duterte who directed her to leave all CF transactions and disbursements to Lachica.
“Because there is a directive from Ma’am Inday Sara that I release it to Lachica because it’s him who knows how to implement the programs and activities in line with the confidential funds. He knows how to do surveillance and monitoring, so that’s with him, I don’t know about it,” she told Luistro.
EXTENDED DETENTION
On the motion of Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT), the Chua committee extended by another five days the detention period of Lopez, who could not attend the hearing as she was still confined at the VMMC in Quezon City where she is being treated since Saturday for “acute disorder.”
“I would like to consider to move for a reconsideration of our resolution insofar as it limited the period of detention to only five days. I move, Mr. Chair, that the period of detention of Attorney Lopez be 10 days instead of five days,” Castro said, citing Lopez’s “evasive attitude.”
At one point in the hearing, the Vice President disrupted the proceedings, saying she had to speak up because she has no allies who can take up the cudgels for Lopez after the panel extended her detention.
She said that Lopez should not be punished for the supposed resignation of DepEd officials, especially former Education Undersecretary Secretary Gloria Mercado who was ordered relieved by the Vice President, because it is President Marcos Jr. who approved it.
“Why will you penalize Usec. Lopez for an act of the President?” Duterte said. “Bakit nila pine-penalize si Usec. Lopez? Hindi ba dapat ang pine-penalize nila ang appointing authority? (Why are they penalizing Usec. Lopez? Shouldn’t they be penalizing the appointing authority?)
Duterte continued to defend Lopez, saying she really had no knowledge about the use of her confidential funds, which later prompted Acop to advise the Vice President to just seek legal remedy in court.
“If you think our action is against the law, the proper remedy is to go to court,” Acop said, to which the Vice President said: “Yes, I will go to court. Tinutulungan ko lang kayo kasi napapahiya ang Pilipinas. Ganito ba ang House of Representatives? (I was just trying to help you out here because this is an embarrassment to the Philippines. Is this what the House of Representatives is like?).”
MANDALUYONG JAIL
Bureau of Corrections chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. said a detention room at the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City has been prepared for Lopez should her transfer to the facility proceed.
Catapang said Lopez would be treated fairly, similar to POGO personality Cassandra Ong, who is currently detained at the CIW after being cited in contempt by the House quad committee.
“Just in case Lopez is transferred, like Cassandra Ong, who is currently with us, there’s an adjacent room, equally comfortable and air-conditioned. We will accommodate kasi kung may order lang,” Catapang told reporters in an interview at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
Catapang said that Lopez, like Ong, would not be housed with regular inmates but assigned a private room.
“Mag-isa lang si Cassandra sa isang kwarto. And then of course, kung matutuloy yan, may sarili rin siyang kwarto (Cassandra has own room. And then of course, If [Lopez’s] transfer pushes through, she will also have her own room),” Catapang added.
The BuCor chief also assured Lopez of her safety inside the CIW.
“May bantay kami doon. May bantay kami. Si Cassandra Ong, 24 hours ang bantay (We have security there. Just like Cassandra Ong who is secured 24 hours). Ang safety, security, we have to guarantee. Kasi trabaho namin yan eh (That is our job),” he said.
He added that the CIW has its own medical unit ready to come to the assistance of its detainees. – With Ashzel Hachero
Wendell Vigilia View all posts
