The House Committee on Justice on Tuesday adopted into its impeachment proceedings the documentary and digital records of the 19th Congress inquiry into the alleged misuse of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, who chairs the Justice panel, made the move official after Manila Rep. Joel Chua, who headed the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability in the 19th Congress, vouched for the records and formally moved for their adoption.

Chua underscored that he was not relying on secondhand knowledge when he authenticated the documents, as he personally presided over the earlier hearings in which the records were generated.

“I was the chairperson during the 19th Congress of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability,” Chua said. “I was also there every hearing, and so I believe that I would be able confirm these documents as I was the one who instructed the Committee Secretary to issue the transcripts.”

He pointed out that the authenticity of the records should no longer be in doubt, especially since they were produced under the authority of the committee that originally conducted the inquiry in aid of legislation.

“So, I believe there is no reason now to question their authenticity,” Chua stressed.

He then made the formal motion to incorporate the earlier records into the present proceedings, a step that effectively linked the impeachment inquiry to the documentary trail already built in the 19th Congress hearings on confidential funds.

Before that motion was taken up, Legislative Archives and Museum Management Service Director Marivic Pareja carefully drew the line between what her office could authenticate and what it could not, making clear that custody of the records did not make her the proper witness on the truth of what they contained.

“With all due respect, Your Honor, Madam Chair, as the director of the legislative archives, my office only attests to the custody and preservation of records as transmitted,” Pareja said.

Luistro then summarized the motion for the record and emphasized that the materials had already been transmitted to the committee secretary, covering both the paper and digital files from the earlier Good Government investigation into the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd.

She added that those same records had already been turned over by Pareja to the committee secretary, making them ready for incorporation into the justice panel’s official record.

The previous hearings of the committee produced some of the most detailed public testimony so far on the handling of confidential funds, including the sworn accounts of former DepEd undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado and former Bids and Awards Committee chair Resty Osias, who both linked envelopes of cash to officials around then Education Secretary Sara Duterte.

The adoption of the records means the Justice panel now has a faster route to place on record prior testimonies, submitted exhibits and the House’s institutional memory on the confidential funds controversy now at the center of the impeachment case. (PNA)