(UPDATE) THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered Vice President Sara Duterte and other officials of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) to respond to the charges filed by the House Committee on Good Government related to the alleged a nomalous use of confidential funds from 2022 to 2023.
Named as respondents along with Duterte in the order obtained by The Manila Times are former special disbursing officers Edward Fajarda and Gina Acosta, former education assistant secretary Sunshine Fajarda and former education undersecretary Nolasco Mempin, and other officials of the OVP and DepEd.
They are charged with technical malversation, falsification of public documents, use of falsified documents, perjury, bribery, corruption of public officers, plunder and betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Vice President Sara Duterte
In an order signed by Assistant Ombudsman Nellie Golez, who acts as the chief of the Special Panel of Investigators, the respondents are directed to file their counter-affidavits 10 days upon the receipt of the order.
Failure to do so “shall be deemed as waiver of respondents’ right to submit controverting evidence and the preliminary investigation shall proceed accordingly,” the order said.
The Office of the Vice President confirmed receiving the order at 9 a.m on Friday.
The House of Representatives said that the impeachment trial of Duterte must continue despite the issuance of an order by the Ombudsman.
House spokesman Priscilla Abante also said the House did not file the complaint, and believes that the Ombudsman acted motu proprio, or on its own, after it submitted the committee report on June 10.
“What the House initiated was the impeachment trial through the transmission of the articles of impeachment,” Abante said.
Abante refused to comment on why the House was named as the complainant in the case against Duterte.
“Sa ngayon, ang ginawa lang ng House is to furnish them with the committee report. Gusto ko muna tingnan mabuti ‘yung pag-identify na ang House ang complainant (Right now, the House only furnished them the Committee report. I want to see if it would be good if the House is identified as a complainant),” she said.
In a related development, Duterte flew again on Friday to Australia for a personal trip and to participate in a rally in support of her jailed father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The “Free Duterte Now” rally will be held on Sunday in Melbourne, the OVP said.
It said Duterte left Manila on Tuesday midnight and arrived early Wednesday morning in Melbourne.
The rally is expected to be joined by around 3,000 supporters, according to Duterte Down Under’s Rado Gatchalian in an interview over Australia’s SBS Radio.
It was the vice president’s second trip overseas in a month, and her fifth consecutive trip since the arrest of her father.
The former president is charged with crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Duterte joined her father in a rally held in Hong Kong before his arrest in March, and followed him to The Hague immediately after his arrest.
She later went to Qatar and back to The Hague in May, and to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to participate in the Independence Day reception.
Meanwhile, a leading international law expert is calling for the abolition of the ICC, arguing that the tribunal has become politicized, ineffective and disproportionately focused on weaker states, while powerful nations remain untouched.
In its place, Arnedo Valera, who is executive director of the Global Migrant Heritage Foundation and teaches international law at the San Beda Graduate School of Law, proposes a new global justice system rooted in the United Nations, with equal representation and democratic oversight.
Valera made the proposal in a position paper, “The Case for Abolishing the International Criminal Court: Toward a Democratic and Accountable Global Justice Mechanism Under the United Nations.”
He said there should be a fundamental shift in how the world pursues justice for crimes against humanity, urging the establishment of a new tribunal with legitimacy anchored in sovereign equality among UN member states.
Since its inception in 2002 under the Rome Statute, the ICC has struggled to assert its authority over powerful states, while facing mounting criticism over selective prosecutions, Valera said.
He cited the court’s inability to enforce high-profile arrest warrants — such as those issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — as evidence of its growing irrelevance.
“The ICC was meant to be a neutral arbiter of justice, but it has instead become a tool for political manipulation,” Valera said in an interview. “When countries like the US, Russia and China dismiss its authority while leaders from the Global South are hauled before it, the Court loses credibility.”
He zeroed in on what he calls the ICC’s lopsided record. Nearly all of its active cases have targeted African nations, prompting accusations of neocolonialism and racial bias.
Former African Union chairman Hailemariam Desalegn once denounced the court as a “race-hunting institution.” The collapse of major prosecutions — such as those against former Kenyan leaders Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto — also raised concerns over due process and the reliability of evidence.
Valera pointed to the ICC’s investigation into the Philippines’ antidrug campaign as another example of its selective approach. He noted that the probe was launched despite similar crackdowns in other countries going unexamined.
The backlash from the Duterte administration ultimately led to the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019.
The United States has long rejected the ICC’s jurisdiction. In 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the court’s officials, with then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo calling it a “thoroughly broken and corrupted institution.” Former national security advisor John Bolton echoed Valera’s sentiments, saying that the ICC “lacks legitimacy because it answers to no democratic oversight.”
As an alternative, Valera envisions the creation of a Global Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity under the UN. Unlike the ICC, the proposed body would feature one-country-one-vote mechanisms for judicial appointments and case referrals.
Valera argued that a tribunal embedded within the UN framework would ensure greater transparency, fairness and accountability.
Under Valera’s model, the tribunal would have limited jurisdiction to avoid overreach, with regional courts empowered to act in partnership with international mechanisms.
Judges and prosecutors would be appointed through the UN General Assembly, providing a multilateral check against politicization.
“Justice cannot be selective,” Valera said. “A UN-based system would reflect the international community’s diversity — not just the interests of Western powers.”
“The ICC is no longer fit for purpose. It’s time for a system that serves justice, not politics,” he said.
