House leaders rally behind Speaker

MANILA, Philippines — Leaders of the House of Representatives rallied yesterday behind Speaker Martin Romualdez, dismissing Vice President Sara Duterte’s latest statement as a “desperate attempt” to shift public attention from her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education when she was the DepEd secretary.

Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David Suarez and Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe asked Duterte to “stop the drama, hallucination and deception.”

The three House leaders said Romualdez and the chamber have consistently adhered to transparency and good governance.

“She seems to be hallucinating. That is why our advice to her is consult a doctor,” Gonzales said.

“The report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on how the House of Representatives used the people’s money is clean, unlike the OVP under VP Duterte,” he added.

The lawmaker stressed the House would not be investigating illegal activities like drug trafficking, money laundering and hoarding and price manipulation of consumer products if it is benefiting from illicit practices as claimed by the Vice President.

“Why would we investigate if one of us are benefiting from illegal activities? We would have kept our silence,” Gonzales asked.

Meanwhile, Suarez said Duterte’s accusations are mere “stories, drama and deception.”

“They are used to that. That is their expertise—deception,” he said. “That is only a diversion from her misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds that was received by the OVP and DepEd when she was still its secretary,” he added.

He also slammed the Vice President for consistently refusing to explain her use of CIFs despite repeated invitations by the House to do so and instead resorting to theatrics and unfounded accusations in evading accountability for the missing funds.

“There is only one reason for her refusal to appear before the committee. She has no explanation to the misuse of the P612.5 million confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd. She cannot explain the receipts without signatures, no names, unreadable names, the names of the bakeshop and