Amid Accusations vs. VP Sara Duterte, DepEd Chief Accountant Reveals Receiving Money
DepEd chief accountant Ma. Rhunna Catalan claimed she received envelopes with cash under Vice President Sara Duterte’s term.
The stint of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte as the secretary of the Department of Education is undeniably controversial. The speedy use of the Confidential Funds of the education department in 2022 is one of the most popular issues that hooked national attention.
Duterte who was the running-mate of Pres. Bongbong Marcos was appointed as the secretary of DepEd in 2022. Then, the President and the Vice President had close ties.
However, early this year, the public noticed a falling out in the relationship of the two (2) highest officials in the government. Vice Pres. Sara Duterte resigned from being the secretary of DepEd and left the Marcos cabinet as well.
Aside from the questions over her ties with Pres. Bongbong Marcos now, there are also a lot of questions about the budget use of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte when she was the education secretary.
However, at a House hearing over her office’s budget use, Vice Pres. Duterte refused to take an oath and left the probe early. Recently, a house panel said they may suggest a case against Vice Pres. Duterte over her office’s confidential funds.
Previously, a former official of DepEd accused Vice Pres. Sara Duterte of showing her subordinates with money when she was the education secretary. Recently, another official of DepEd made the said claim.
DepEd chief accountant Ma. Rhunna Catalan claimed at a House hearing that she allegedlly received envelopes with cash during the term of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. According to Catalan, she got envelopes with cash nine times from February to September 2023.
Ma. Rhunna Catalan has been with the Department of Education for 36 years now. According to the DepEd Chief Accountant, there were minimal amounts inside the envelopes that she received.
“Yes sir. Minimal amount lang po. It’s not even… It’s 25,000,” Catalan told House Committee On Good Government and Public Accountability Chairperson and Manila Rep. Joel Chua when he asked her if the money was received from Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda.
Based on the report, the DepEd Chief Accountant also claimed that there was no voucher that she had signed for the money received during Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s term.
“I asked Asec. Shine [Fajarda] if it was part of the confidential funds. She said no, it’s just an allowance from the Vice President,” she claimed.
According to Catalan, she honestly received the cash as she believed that it is not part of the confidential funds of the department. She claimed that she was made to believe that it came from the personal budget of Duterte and was not a bribe but a form of appreciating their performance.
Amid the accusations, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte previously snubbed a House investigation over the use of the DepEd fund under his term.