The Department of Education (DepEd) Chief Accountant Rhunna Catalan admitted to signing the liquidation vouchers worth P112.5 million, before the House hearing on Tuesday, November 5.
During the fourth inquiry of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, the DepEd Chief Accountant stated that former DepEd Asec. Sunshine Charry Fajarda requested that she sign the liquidation vouchers. According to the panel, the vouchers concerned the department’s intelligence and confidential funds and amounted to P112.5 million.
The said sum was withdrawn by the DepEd Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda, who is also Sunshine’s husband.
Catalan said that Fajarda requested her signature as it was needed for covering the letter of documents. Apart from that, Catalan also confessed to receiving cash allowance from Vice President (VP) Sara Duterte during her term as DepEd head. The cash allowance amounted to Php 25,000 and was informed that it came from the VP’s personal money. She received the money for nine consecutive months, from February to September 2023.
The DepEd chief accountant added that she received the allowance through Sunshine Fajarda, the VP’s trusted aid.
The Committee is conducting an investigation into the questionable spending of the OVP and DepEd funds from 2022 to 2023.
Seven of the OVP officials were given a subpoena for their repeat absences in the hearing, including the fourth one today.
