00:00The Office of the Vice President's Confidential Fund has exceeded the threshold to be considered as having a plunder
00:10which has not yet been clarified by a congressman.
00:14In addition to the allegations against the Vice President,
00:16the Office of the Vice President's Confidential Fund will give 50,000 pesos every month to a former education undersecretary
00:23whom he called an example of lack of credibility.
00:26Oscar Oida was right.
00:30From February to September 2023,
00:34while serving as the head of the procurement entity of the Department of Education or DepEd,
00:39the envelope received by the former DepEd undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado was received every month.
00:45The amount was 50,000 pesos per envelope.
00:48The envelope was usually received by Assistant Secretary Sunshine M. Fajarda
00:53and it was said that it came from Vice President Sara Duterte.
00:57In the middle of the hearing, she took out the envelopes.
01:08According to Mercado, she never opened the envelopes when she was still serving in DepEd.
01:15When she retired,
01:28and that's the only time that I opened these envelopes in front of the people that I was donating it.
01:33And it was 50,000 pesos per envelope.
01:36The reason why you are considering all these concerns is because you believe that the envelope is a bribe.
01:44Do you agree?
01:45Yes or no, ma'am?
01:50It's kind of a harsh word to use.
01:53Bribe.
01:55Because if...
01:56Or should I say, it is a means to influence your decision being the hope.
02:06It could be.
02:07In a press conference, VP Sara Duterte was asked by the media about this allegation by Mercado.
02:14Maybe if she is accused like that, she should have a paper.
02:18She should have a paper.
02:19Like me, when I am accused, when I answer, I give the paper.
02:25Gloria Mercado is a disgruntled former employee of the Department of Education.
02:31She was let go because of loss of trust and confidence.
02:37The OVP released a letter signed by Mercado where Vice President Sara Duterte's name was mentioned.
02:45This is close to the breakdown of usage and total cost which is worth 16 million pesos.
02:51She solicited 16 million pesos from a company on paper using my name without any authorization.
03:01I explained properly. I did not solicit. There's no money involved there.
03:06These are equipments. There's no cash there.
03:10These are equipments that will be turned over to the DepEd.
03:14So I feel very sad that up until now, the VP has not been appraised as I explained it to her people.
03:24In her opening statement, Congressman Joel Chua said that she heard accusations and insinuations
03:31from her committee that she was subjected to a political exercise or attack on an individual.
03:36Chua said that the committee just wanted to know how the confidential fund of the OVP was spent.
03:44I must stress at this point that the sheer vastness of these potentially misused funds
03:51sets this matter apart from other instances of irregularity and disallowance.
03:57These amounts easily surpass the threshold for the crime of plunder under our laws.
04:04We are listening to the reaction of Vice President Duterte.
04:08But in her new statement the other day,
04:11Vice President Duterte called for the use of witnesses without any credibility or questionable intentions to be stopped.
04:22She cited Mercado as an example that she is part of the machinery against her.
04:28For GMA Integrated News, Oscar Oida, for 24 Hours.
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