MANILA, Philippines – The House committee investigating Vice President Sara Duterte‘s alleged misuse of funds concluded its last hearing for the year, and it stopped short of recommending the filing of cases against her.

Still, lawmakers used proceedings by the good government panel on Monday, December 9, to list down potential violations that Duterte and her staff may have committed.

Rappler’s congressional reporter Dwight de Leon gives us the rundown in this recap.

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The potential offenses are as follows:

• Technical malversation, in light of the Commission on Audit’s (COA) finding that Duterte’s Office of the Vice President failed to prove that its confidential expenditures were related to national security and peace and order, contrary to guidelines under a government joint circular
• Falsification of documents, amid discovery of acknowledgment receipts with contrived names of signatories and inconsistent signatures
• Perjury, when OVP officials signed certifications to COA that were later notarized, even though they claimed to not have an idea how confidential funds were exhausted;
• Bribery and corruption of public officers, after numerous officials confirmed receiving cash gifts from Duterte;
• Plunder, as the allegedly anomalous confidential expenditures totaled P612.5 million from 2022 to 2023

“These are for the purposes of wrapping up. Insofar as the final committee report, there will be discussions. But basically, these are the recommendations of the individual members,” panel chairperson Joel Chua clarified, but he did not say when that will be released.

He said the committee was ending specific discussion on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds for now to give way to the proceedings that will be conducted by the justice committee, which will be tasked to handle the two impeachment complaints against her. Both petitions zeroed in on Duterte’s disbursement of secret funds. – Rappler.com