THE Ombudsman and the House of Representatives are sharply divided over who filed the complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte involving the questionable use of confidential funds.
Named as respondents along with Duterte in the complaint are former special disbursing officers Edward Fajarda and Gina Acosta of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), former Department of Education (DepEd) assistant secretary Sunshine Fajarda, and former Education undersecretary Nolasco Mempin.
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.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires is insisting that the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, also known as the blue ribbon, is the complainant in the case.
But House spokesman Priscilla Abante said the House did not file the complaint. What it submitted to the Ombudsman was the committee’s report on the transmission of the articles of impeachment against Duterte.
In an interview on radio DZBB on Saturday, Martires said that once the committee report has been ratified by the House plenary, the Office of the Secretary General endorses the report to his office for proper action.
“The one who endorsed the committee report of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability is the secretary general himself, and he said in his letter that the committee report was adopted by the House of Representatives. So we made (the) committee as the complainant,” Martires said.
House Secretary General Reginald Velasco confirmed to The Manila Times he sent a letter to Martires which furnishes the Ombudsman a copy of Committee Report 1503, which detailed the findings and recommendations of the panel and was adopted on June 10.
Martires recalled that in the Pharmally case, the Senate blue ribbon committee, then led by Sen. Richard Gordon and Sen. Risa Hontiveros, acted as the complainant in the case filed by the Ombudsman against several officials of the Department of Health.
And in the case involving the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, the complainant is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by Sen. Imee Marcos.
“We are not the complainants here, we never investigated the case. The case came from them, where there were detailed offenses that were allegedly committed by the vice president and the officers of DepEd and Office of the Vice President,” Martires said, referring to the House.
He said he was dumbfounded by the House’s denial.
“Ano yun, pardon the word pero gagawin naming scratch paper? We are not even part of the investigation of the House of Representatives kaya hindi kami dapat furnishan ng kopya (Pardon the word, but are we going to make this as scratch paper? We are not even part of the investigation of the House of Representatives that’s why we should not furnish a copy),” Martires said.
Despite the House’s denial, Martires said his office will continue its investigation of Duterte and the other respondents.
“Hindi namin pwedeng isantabi, we cannot close our eyes, hindi namin pwede ipikit ang aming mata na may isang reklamo binigay sa amin (We will not set this aside. We cannot close our eyes that a complaint was given to us),” Martires said.
He also warned that if the parties do not cooperate with the Ombudsman, they will be cited in contempt.
Martires said that if the House blue ribbon committee decides not to answer the counter-affidavits filed by Duterte and her co-respondents, the case would be immediately submitted for resolution.
In his podcast on Saturday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denied that the executive branch was interfering in the impending impeachment trial of Duterte, saying the process was decided on by the House and the Senate.
Marcos said the impeachment was not his priority, and that he was focused on attending to the needs of the country and the people.
“I’m busy with the transport, with the rice, all of the different things that we are doing, these consume my time,” he said.
Last week, the Senate voted 18-5 to remand the articles of impeachment against the vice president.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro has said the president will hold a dialogue with lawmakers, but the impeachment of Duterte will not be discussed.
The vice president has questioned the validity of her impeachment before the Supreme Court.
