By JOSEPH ANTHONY A. DAMGO
Why did Vice President Sara Duterte give monthly envelopes containing P50,000 each to a procurement official at the Department of Education (DepEd) during her time at the agency?
This was the question congressmen have on their minds Wednesday following the testimony of retired DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado before the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, chaired by Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua.
The Chua panel is investigating, in aid of legislation, the alleged misuse of the Office of the Vice President’s multi-million peso fund.
The panel included in its probe the fund utilization at DepEd from 2022 to 2024 when Vice President Duterte served as the secretary.
“Between February 2023 and September 2023, I received a total of nine (9) envelopes labeled 'HoPE', my concurrent position in DepEd during that time. These envelopes were handed to me monthly by Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda, which she says came directly from the office of Vice President Sara Duterte," she narrated.
"(G)aling kay VP, is what she would typically say as she hands the envelopes. It would appear that I received these envelopes by virtue of my office as HoPE (Head of the Procuring Entity). Atty. Sunshine Fajarda is the wife of Edward D. Fajarda who is the Special Disbursement Officer," she added.
Mercado — who had spent the last four decades of her life in government service and struck the congressmen as a straight-shooter — told the good government panel that she never opened the envelopes to confirm their contents. However, each envelope was marked with the amount.
She repeatedly said during the solons' interpellation that she was uncomfortable with receiving such envelopes from the Vice President-slash-DepEd chief.
Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro asked Mercado if she felt that the envelopes were supposed to "influence" her, given her position at the department. Mercado answered, "It could be."
It was only after her retirement that Mercado, with her confidantes, decided to open the envelopes and donate the contents to a non-government organization. The former undersecretary kept the envelopes with her.
During Wednesday's hearing, and after learning from Deputy Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre that Vice President Duterte had brushed her off as a "disgruntled former employee" and, at the same maligned her by claiming she solicited millions in cash behind her back, Mercado decided to give the panel the subject envelopes.
"It's very sad," Mercado said, and she took out a small bag from her purse.
"I don't want to do this, but since siya na yung nagsabi, i-turn over ko na yung envelopes. The envelopes were where the money was. So it's nine envelopes. It says HoPE, and the amount is there," she said.
Also, Mercado bared she was unceremoniously asked to resign after she rejected a negotiated contract for the agency’s computerization program instead of undergoing the prescribed bidding.
"I was summoned by Zuleika Lopez, the Chief of Staff of Vice President Duterte and Undersecretary at the Office of the Vice President. I was informed that I should tender my resignation effective that day. I refused to resign and insisted on departing from the service through voluntary retirement," she said.
Just weeks before this, Mercado said another former DepEd official, lawyer Reynold Munsayac, approached her regarding the DepEd Computerization Program, which she said was on its way to a bidding failure.
"He suggested, in the presence of three other DepEd officials who I was with that the bidders should discuss among themselves. ‘[Mag-usap usap na lang, para hindi masayang ang 2022 budget,’ according to Atty. Munsayac. I firmly asserted that the procurement must be implemented and conducted in strict adherence with the rules," she said.
"The timing of my meeting with Ms. Zuleika struck me as more than coincidental, it gave me the impression that my candid response to Atty. Munsayac's suggestion was the real reason behind the push to relieve me of my office. It was as if I had become an unwelcome obstacle in the procurement process, despite simply doing my job as the HoPE and undersecretary for Human Resources of DepEd," she said.
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