House panel issues subpoena for VP Sara’s SALNs, NBI probe on death threat

The House justice committee has issued a subpoena or compelled the submission of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) of Vice President Sara Duterte during her tenure as Davao City mayor and as Vice President.

This developed after the House justice panel, with 34 yes votes, one no vote, and zero abstentions, approved the motion put forward by House good government and public accountability panel committee chairperson and Manila Third District Rep. Joel Chua to issue a subpoena duces tecum to the Office of the Ombudsman for the submission of the SALNs of the Vice President in the following years:

• 2007 to 2013
• 2016 to 2022 and
• 2022 to 2024

The subpoena was issued since the Ombudsman’s office is the repository of the Vice President's SALN.

Chua made the motion during Day 1 of the hearing on the determination of probable cause to impeach the Vice President before the House justice panel. 

During the same proceeding, the House justice panel has also approved, via voice vote, the issuance of subpoena duces tecum to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the production of its investigation records on the video showing the Vice President threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and then Speaker and Leyte First District Rep. Martin Romualdez.

GMA News Online reached out to the camp of Duterte for comment and will publish it once available. 

COA testimony, findings on confi fund use

As this developed, the House committee on justice also formally sought the testimony of lawyer Gloria Camora of the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO), as well as the office's findings on the use of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and during Duterte's tenure as Education chief.

“This representation confirms that I filed yesterday, March 24, with the Committee on Justice and with a copy furnished to the respondent by the Committee Secretary, a request for the issuance of subpoena duces tecum and ad testificandum for one, Attorney Gloria Camora of the COA-ICFAO, to produce, identify and authenticate official COA audit records, including liquidation reports, disbursement vouchers, certifications and related submissions of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education pertaining to the disposition of the confidential funds for the years 2022 and 2023,” ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said.

“The subpoena is just for Attorney Gloria Camora for the moment because she is the custodian of these COA records and documents pertaining to confidential funds,” added de Lima, one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

De Lima cited that Duterte's alleged misuse of the P612.5 million confidential funds was among the impeachable offenses stated in the third impeachment complaint filed by Rev. Fr. Bong Saballa, among others, which the House justice panel found sufficient in form, substance, and grounds.

She said the subpoena for the COA-ICFAO records covers the period 2022 to 2023, when the Office of the Vice President and the Education Department received confidential funds.

De Lima maintained that while an Education Secretary is not an impeachable officer, Duterte's actions cannot be separated from those of the Vice President.

“You don't distinguish the actions made, especially the anomalous actions and the impeachable offenses made because it pertains to [her tenure in] the Department of Education. What if the Vice President kills someone? It doesn't say it's in relation to her office as Vice President and as DepEd Secretary,” de Lima, a former Justice Secretary, said.

"She has one persona. She is the same person,” de Lima added.

De Lima’s motion to subpoena COA documents and a state auditor gathered 29 yes votes, one no vote and zero abstentions.

Other motions for subpoena ad testificandum (compel the attendance of a witness for a testimony) and duces tecum (compel the production of documents before the committee), which were granted by the House justice panel on Wednesday include: 

• ·motion to subpoena the Philippine Statistics Authority representative and the civil registry records of the recipient of confidential funds
• motion to subpoena records of NBI investigation on the threats made by the Vice President to the President in a video
• motion to subpoena Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth of the Vice President
• motion to subpoena the findings of the House good government and public accountability panels during their 2024 inquiry on the budget use of the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education during the term of the Vice President as Education Secretary
• motion to subpoena confessed Vice President Sara’s bagman Ramil Madriaga, his counsel and affidavit
• motion to provide additional security for Madriaga during the days he will testify before the House justice panel
• motion to subpoena lawyer Michael Poa, Duterte's former spokesperson and chief of staff 
• motion to subpoena Bureau of Internal Revenue and other tax records of the Vice President and her businesses with her husband, Manases Carpio
• motion to subpoena Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records of the Vice President's businesses with her husband

Documents as wealth explainer

House justice panel member and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said that the scrutiny of the SALN of the Vice President, as well as her and her husband's tax records and company finances, is no fishing expedition since these documents are crucial in establishing that her wealth is legally acquired.

“The facts are very clear. The Vice President has to explain the discrepancy of the value of her net worth in 2007 as against 2024 as stated in her SALNs. There is wealth gap between her accumulated salary amounting to P30 to P50 million as against the P88 million net worth in 2024,” Ridon said in a news conference.

“This increase in net worth can also be explained in the audit and financial statements of the companies that she and her husband are involved in, as stated in her SALN,” he added.

House justice committee chairperson Gerville Luistro agreed with Ridon that the issuance of various subpoenas is justified.

“We have to remember that there has been a declaration of sufficiency in form, in substance, and there has been a declaration of sufficiency in grounds [of the two impeachment complaints against the Vice President. In other words, the committee already ruled on the existence of a sufficient basis to proceed to hearing proper, including the issuance of a subpoena,” Luistro added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News