Ombudsman: House committee findings on OVP, DepEd confidential funds 'a good guide'

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla said the findings of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on the confidential funds spending by Vice President Sara Duterte are useful information.

“Well, it serves as a good guide, I think.  So, we can use that. We can use that information,” Remulla said of the House committee findings.

“It's a guide for us to evaluate issues properly,” he added.

On Monday, opposition group Tindig Pilipinas also asked Remulla to resume the probe on Vice President Duterte’s use of P625 million worth of confidential funds by personally submitting a letter before the Ombudsman’s office.

Tindig Pilipinas said there is a need to probe the Vice President, given that an impeachment case against her is still pending resolution before the Supreme Court.

Remulla said he has yet to read the letter, but assured that his office will act accordingly.

“Babalitaan namin kayo kung ano ang naging aksyon ng aking opisina tungkol rito. Magsisimula ‘yan sa fact-finding,” Remulla said.

(We’ll let you know what action we have taken here. It will start with fact-finding.)

The House panel said in its committee report that the Office of the Vice President liquidated its confidential fund allocation in 2022 to 2023 with acknowledgement receipts containing wrong dates, signatories with no birth records, unnamed signatories, and non-readable signatures, among others. 

The same inquiry also revealed that the DepEd under then Secretary and Vice President Duterte used certifications from military officials, without the soldiers’ knowledge, to justify the disbursement of P15 million of its confidential funds for payment of informants in 2023.

Meanwhile, Remulla said the Ombudsman is investigating the alleged links of Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana and his wife to anomalous government flood control projects.

Remulla was responding to the query if the Ombudsman’s office was already investigating the Lipana couple in light of published reports that the couple’s constructions firms bagged P1.89 billion worth of government contracts all secured during Lipana’s tenure in COA. 

“Yes, yes. Ongoing na ‘yan,” Remulla said.

“I got files  last Friday afternoon. I had a meeting and I got a handful of files with his wife and their Olympus Mining corporation that participated in government projects. Not only government projects in DPWH, supply of fire trucks, and other government stuff, the COA building is under construction,” he added.

“We'll work on it. This is a work in progress. We're still building up our teams that will evaluate [these matters], but it will run pretty fast when we get to it," Remulla said.

The links of Lipana and his wife in the flood control mess was first revealed before COA’s proposed P13.8 billion budget hearing before the House appropriations panel. 

During the said proceedings, it was revealed that Lipana’s wife is the president and general manager of Olympus Mining and Builders Group, a construction firm that won at least P326 million worth of government flood control contracts involving flood control structures, river walls, and road dikes in Angat River. –NB, GMA Integrated News