ENVELOPES labeled “HOPE” submitted by former Education undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado have emerged as part of the documentary trail being sought by the House Committee on Justice in its impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
In a subpoena ad testificandum et duces tecum, the panel directed Marivic M. Pareja, director of the House of Representatives Legislative Archives and Museum Management Service, to produce records, including materials linked to Mercado, ahead of the April 14, 2026 hearing.
The subpoena explicitly includes the turnover of “Affidavit of Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado and envelopes labeled ‘HOPE’ submitted by Undersecretary Mercado.”
“You are hereby directed to appear before the Committee on Justice on April 14, 2026, 10:00 A.M., at the 2nd Floor of the People Center, House of Representatives, and to submit the following documents,” the order read.
During a September 2024 hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, Mercado, the former head of the procuring entity (HOPE), stated in her sworn affidavit that she allegedly received envelopes from then DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda. She testified that Fajarda told her the envelopes came directly from Duterte.
“Between February of 2023 to September 2023, I received a total of nine envelopes labeled HOPE, my current position at DepEd during that time. These envelopes were handed to me mostly by Assistant Secretary Sunshine M. Fajarda, which she says came directly from Vice President Duterte,” Mercado alleged.
“What she would typically say as she hands the envelope is that it would appear that I received this envelope by virtue of my office as HOPE. Atty. Fajarda is the wife of Edward Fajarda, who is the special disbursement office,” Mercado said.
Mercado further stated that Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff to Duterte at the Office of the Vice President (OVP), allegedly requested her resignation after she flagged several issues involving the procurement for the agency’s computerization program.
According to Mercado, the request followed her objection to proposals by former Education Assistant Secretary Reynold Munsayac that bidders allegedly “discuss among themselves” the disposition of the bidding.
Among those required by the panel
are transcripts and video recordings of multiple House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearings, as well as documents tied to the handling of confidential funds.
“The custodian keeps and maintains transcripts of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearings on the OVP’s and DepEd’s disposition of their confidential funds for the years 2022 and 2023, and other pertinent documents,” the subpoena stated.
The panel specifically cited the participation of key resource persons during those hearings.
“During these hearings, resource speakers, including Atty. Gloria Camora, Usec. Jumamil Mercado and Director Resty Osias, testified. Mercado and Osias even submitted the envelopes that contained the sums of money to the custodian,” it added.
At an October 2024 hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, former DepEd Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairperson Resty Osias disclosed that he received envelopes containing P12,000 to P15,000 each during Vice President Sara Duterte’s tenure as education secretary in 2023.
Osias said he was called to the office of Sunshine Fajarda, who also served as Duterte’s head executive assistant, where he was allegedly given the envelopes.
He alleged that he received a total of four envelopes between April and September 2023, which he believed was a “practice of the department.”
The directive forms part of the committee’s effort to secure original records and materials referenced in earlier congressional inquiries, which are now being examined in relation to the verified impeachment complaints.
The order also provides coordination details for document submission and clarifications prior to the hearing.
The subpoena, dated March 31, 2026, was issued by authority of Committee on Justice chairperson Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas and signed by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III, with House Secretary General Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil attesting.
The House panel continues its hearings to determine probable cause in the impeachment complaints, a crucial stage before any potential transmittal of the case to the Senate for trial.
