Vice President (VP) Sara Duterte should not waste the opportunity to attend the upcoming probe by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, the Chairman and Manila Rep. Joel Chua said.
The House Committee had repeatedly sent an invite to the VP in the past, asking her to explain the reason behind the questionable confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd). However, the VP had always refused to make an appearance before the Committee.
On Wednesday, VP Sara personally attended the Quad Committee hearing on her father and former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. While she was there in support of the former President, she was later approached by the Committee Secretariat to give her the invitation.
Due to that, Chua stated that the chances remain high that the VP will attend the hearing on November 20, as she personally accepted the invite.
The Committee is eager to ask the VP about the usage and spending of the two concerned agencies’ confidential funds during her time as its head. Recently, four OVP officials were cited in contempt for their repeated absences. An arrest order was also ordered for them.
Meanwhile, the Committee issued a subpoena against the OVP Chief-of-Staff Zuleika Lopez, who is still in the United States.
In the previous hearing, the panel found that the VP, along with her inner circle, controlled the spending of the Php 500 million worth of confidential funds for the OVP.
