Veteran lawyer Kapunan invokes principal’s 11-year jail term for P5,000 in pressing for VP Sara’s accountability for P612-M
IF a public school principal could be convicted and imprisoned for 11 years for misusing P5,000 in public funds, why should Vice President Sara Z. Duterte face any less scrutiny for the P612.5 million in confidential funds allegedly misused under her watch?
That was the pointed question raised by veteran litigator Atty. Lorna Kapunan, who argued that if lower-ranking government employees can be held swiftly accountable for pocketing public funds, the justice system should demand no less from the country’s highest public officials
“Magkano ‘yun? P5,000 mga kababayan. At sino ‘yan? Public school principal lang,” Kapunan said in an interview over dzMM on Thursday.
She recalled how the Sandiganbayan affirmed a Regional Trial Court ruling in February 2025, finding a principal from a school in Virac, Catanduanes guilty of falsification and malversation involving P5,000 in financial assistance provided to the school by the provincial government.
The principal had falsified a sales invoice to make it appear the school purchased 28 bags of cement for P7,000 when only eight bags were bought for P2,000.
“Ang nangyari diyan, itong public school teacher binigyan ng pondo para bumili ng cement bags. Ang idineclare po niya, bumili daw siya ng 28 cement bags, costing P7,000. ‘Yun pala, binili niya from ‘yung government assistance eh 8 bags lang costing P2,000,” Kapunan said.
“So sabi ng Regional Trial Court ng Catanduanes, confirmed just last year ng Sandiganbayan, 11 years for falsification, malversation,” she added.
In the impeachment case, Duterte is accused of misappropriating P500 million in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million from the Department of Education (DepEd) during her brief stint as secretary.
The House Committee on Justice found probable cause to recommend her impeachment on this ground, constituting betrayal of public trust, citing the Commission on Audit’s (COA) notices of disallowance on the spending of those funds.
The notice of disallowance on P73 million spent in December 2022 was affirmed by the Commission Proper, which denied the OVP’s appeal and upheld that the office failed to justify its expenses with proper documentation or prove the funds were used for confidential activities.
The committee also considered the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) certification that most of the names listed in the acknowledgment receipts of confidential fund beneficiaries had no records in the civil registry.
This was further compounded by the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) forensic analysis finding that the receipts were most likely written by only a handful of people, with two or more receipts bearing different names signed by a single individual.
And to put the P6.77 billion in covered and suspicious transactions flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council in Duterte and her husband’s bank accounts into perspective, Kapunan said that a minimum wage earner would need more than 11,300 years to earn that sum.
“Sa mga wage earners natin, ‘yung amount na ‘yan, it will take you 11,300 years of your minimum wage earnings to earn that money,” she said.
Kapunan also noted that while a conviction in the impeachment trial would only result in Duterte’s removal from office and permanent disqualification—not imprisonment—the vice president already faces a plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman filed by former Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.
Should she be convicted by the Senate and later found guilty by the Sandiganbayan, she would face the full weight of criminal penalties, including imprisonment and fines.
“Sa Constitution, if the vice president is convicted, that means tatanggalin siya. May tinatawag na impeachment case, may criminal case, may civil case. Itong impeachment case, hindi siya criminal case. Hindi siya mape-preso. Mape-preso siya kung may conviction siya sa plunder case na finile ni Senator [Antonio] Trillanes, kasi ang penalty ng plunder case ay imprisonment,” Kapunan said.
