Vice President Sara Duterte will not be attending the continuing deliberations of a House panel on how the Office of the Vice President (OVP) uses its budget based on the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA).
In a letter addressed to House committee on good government and public accountability chairperson and Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, Duterte also reiterated her call “to terminate this inquiry immediately” due to several reasons.
One of which, she pointed out, is that “the inquiry must only be in relation to legislation and should ideally have a proposed bill to guide the discussions therein,” citing a provision in the Constitution.
“Inquiries should not be adversarial nor prosecutorial and should recognize the right of persons to refuse to participate in the crafting of laws. The [House of Representatives] cannot compel people to participate in the legislative process and such right is protected by the Constitution,” the Vice President wrote.
The letter was dated September 23 and was received by the House panel on Wednesday, September 25—when the second public hearing on the matter is scheduled.
On September 18, Duterte faced the first hearing of the House committee on OVP’s budget use where she categorically denied misuse of public funds.
“I am appearing before you today not only as the head of office, but more importantly as the newly authorized representative of all officials of the OVP (Office of the Vice President). Simply because we have not done anything wrong,” Duterte told the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, the chamber’s counterpart to the Senate blue ribbon panel.
“There is no misuse of funds. If there are audit findings, we will gladly respond to them before the Commission on Audit. And if there are legitimate cases to be filed, then we will gladly respond to them before the appropriate courts in relation to this,” she added.
