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The blue ribbon committee of the House of Representatives has invited two ranking officers of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) to answer claims that they disbursed P612.5 million in confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).
Special disbursing officers (SDO) identified Col. Raymund Dante Lachica and Col. Dennis Nolasco as responsible for disbursing millions of pesos in cash from Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds under the OVP and DepEd during a House of Representatives hearing on Monday.
Lachica is the commander of the VPSPG while Nolasco was assigned as a security officer at DepEd and is reportedly currently “on schooling.”
Manila Rep. Joel Chua, chair of the House committee on good government and public accountability, said the two will be invited to the next hearing this Friday.
In response, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said it would cooperate with the ongoing congressional probe.
“If they are summoned to the investigation, the Armed Forces of the Philippines will cooperate,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said at a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Tuesday.
Padilla, however, declined to comment further. “As this is an ongoing investigation, we would not want to issue statements that will hamper or influence the proceedings. So at this point, we shun from making statements that will influence the result of the investigation,” she said.
The ongoing House probe stemmed from the alleged misuse of millions in Duterte’s confidential funds.
With the House panel’s invitation, Lachica and Nolasco are expected to explain why Duterte delegated to them the responsibility of disbursing the OVP’s P500-million and DepEd’s P112.5-million confidential funds.
Gina Acosta and Edward Fajarda, SDOs of the OVP and DepEd, respectively, told the committee during Monday night’s hearing that the Vice President ordered them to turn over the funds to Lachica and Nolasco.
