Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said on Friday, October 18, that Vice President Sara Duterte’s current relationship does not exempt her from scrutiny regarding her office’s expenditures.
The progressive group made the remarks after Duterte said that she would remain undeterred even if the camp of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. could drag her to hell.
“We remind her that even in hell, and regardless of her relationship with the Marcoses, she still has to explain the anomalous expenses she made as vice president and education secretary,” Bayan said in a statement.
“The circumstances that led her to run as vice president are irrelevant to her obligation to account for the misuse of confidential funds in 2022 and 2023,” the group added.
Duterte conducted a press briefing a day after a congressional committee hearing revealed highly irregular expenses involving spurious use of confidential funds from her office.
Lawmakers earlier slammed Vice President Sara Duterte for using her confidential funds — from rental payments for safe houses that has almost the same amount paid for most five-star hotel overnight stays to spending for “youth leader summits” organized by the Philippine Army in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd).
Critics have pointed to her admission of collaborating with a presidential candidate lacking a substantial platform as further evidence of her mismanagement.
According to Bayan, Duterte further incriminated herself by admitting that she teamed up with a presidential candidate who had no substantial platform to offer to the nation.
“This kind of reckless decision-making doesn’t absolve her from spending millions of pesos without proper documentation. Her press conference could be aimed at diverting public attention a day after it was revealed in a Congress committee hearing that her office made highly irregular expenses through the spurious use of confidential funds,” Bayan said.
“Duterte’s ploy is a desperate attempt to confuse the public and evade accountability. She must be made aware of the serious charges leveled against her and her antics today further confirm our assertion that an impeachment trial is necessary to compel her to account for the misuse of public funds,” it added. (TCSP)
