Metro Manila, Philippines — The House of Representatives has formally recommended filing multiple criminal charges—including plunder, bribery, perjury, falsification, and technical malversation—against Vice President Sara Duterte and several other government officials over the alleged improper use of ₱612.5 million in confidential funds.
In a session held on Tuesday, June 10, Manila Rep. Joel Chua, chairperson of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, presented the committee report, which was later adopted by the plenary.
According to the report, the committee is pushing for the following legal actions:
-
Technical malversation against VP Duterte, OVP Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Gina Acosta, and DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda
-
Falsification and use of falsified documents
-
Perjury against Duterte and Acosta
-
Bribery against Duterte and DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda
-
Corruption of public officers
-
Plunder against Duterte, Edward and Sunshine Fajarda, Gina Acosta, OVP Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, OVP Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio, Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group Commander Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, DepEd Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla, and two unnamed military officers
-
Betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution
In addition to recommending charges, the committee also proposed legislative reforms, such as limiting which agencies may access confidential funds, setting caps on allocations, implementing stricter qualifications and penalties for disbursing officers, and reviewing SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth) regulations.
Lawmakers raised red flags during the investigation over acknowledgement receipts with dubious names, identical handwriting across different recipients, and receipts lacking signatures. Some officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) also admitted to receiving extra cash in envelopes, apart from their regular salaries.
These findings contributed to the House’s earlier move to impeach Vice President Duterte in February. However, it’s worth noting that the Commission on Audit (COA) has since stated that there was no misuse of public funds.