As Sara Duterte had left the helm of the Department of Education, Edward Fajarda and his wife Sunshine Charry also transitioned to the Office of the Vice President. They were not to be left on their own at the DepEd without her. They were to go wherever their boss goes. That was how indispensable they were to her.
What vital tasks did Sara exactly charge them with that made them indispensable to her?
The first testimony came from Dr. Gloria Jumamil Mercado. She was DepEd Undersecretary for procurement and human resources. For nine months beginning February 2023 until September, Sunshine Charry Fajarda would deliver a cash envelope containing P50,000, the envelope marked HoPE (Head of Procurement Entity). In each delivery, Fajarda would tell Mercado, “This came from the VP.”
Mercado’s position was sensitive. As head of procurement, her office supervised biddings. Furthermore, she was one of the signatories to DepEd’s checking accounts.
Reynold Munsayac
Sometime October 2023, there was a bidding failure for the agency’s computerization program. A bidding failure happens when no bidders participate or if submitted bids failed the required criteria. Mercado received a most unusual advice from her procurement Assistant Secretary Reynold Munsayac.
Let us put into context Munsayac. He was a Rodrigo Duterte appointee in the Presidential Commission on Good Government from Sept. 12, 2016 to July 31, 2021. Thereafter, Munsayac resigned to be on board Sara Duterte’s campaign team for the vice presidency.
Sara’s ties to Munsayac go a long way. They were classmates in law school. Munsayac was the class valedictorian. Sara did not finish her law studies at San Beda Law. For her last year, she had transferred to the College of San Sebastian Recoletos. While serving as PCGG commissioner in 2017, Munsayac helped craft Sara’s political group Tapang at Malasakit.
And there’s the context – Munsayac was a loyal political appointee of the Dutertes, Mercado was a career government official in the Development Academy of the Philippines (senior vice president and dean), with several postings in the executive department. Her history was solid.
What did the law class valedictorian Munsayac advice Mercado? He suggested that “bidders discuss among themselves” as the year was about to end and the money could revert back to the national treasury if unused. The advice was illegal. Section 65 of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act penalizes bidders for colluding with fellow bidders or with procurement officials. Mercado opposed Munsayac by insisting on a strict adherence to the rules.
Was Mercado bribed to submit to fraudulent procurement practices in the DepEd? Apparently that was not all.
Edward Fajarda, Sunshine Charry’s husband, had asked Mercado for her bank account information. Mr. Fajarda had also inquired the same from field officers of Mercado’s office. She was told the inquiry came from the Vice President herself. After that, Mercado told the House hearing that “regional directors and field officers would also receive sums on top of their regular salaries.”
What was the discretion of Mr. Fajarda’s position vis-à-vis his boss the vice president? He was the Special Disbursement Officer (SDO). He withdraws money from the bank. His wife distributes the money through cash envelopes.
Mercado’s testimony would have figured as political vendetta to Sara Duterte who had wanted to fire her from DepEd (instead she opted for early retirement). But it was corroborated.
Resty Osias also held a vulnerable post. He chaired the DepEd’s Bids and Awards Committee. Asked if he also received cash envelopes from Sunshine Charry Fajarda, Osias told the House hearing: “I must be candid about this. I must say, I did. I thought it was common practice in the department. The very first time I encountered that matter was sometime in April of 2023.”
Osias said he was summoned to the office of Mrs. Fajarda. “And then I was given an envelope.” It was that shameless.
The third testimony was a surprise. It came from the former DepEd and former OVP spokesperson Michael Wesley Poa. He admitted receiving cash envelopes from the vice president “occasionally,” beginning in December 2022. “There were instances I would receive, not from ASec Shine, but from the vice president herself.” Again, shameless.
The fourth and latest testimony came from the DepEd’s chief accountant. Rhunna Catalan said she received P25,000 a month from the Education Secretary and Vice President from February to September 2023. House committee members say this corresponded to the period when confidential funds were available to the DepEd. The public furor against the confidential funds began in September to October 2023.
The money was coursed to Catalan through Mrs. Fajarda, who told her “This is just an allowance from the Secretary.” Catalan said she was made to understand that the money came from the personal money of the Secretary.
Who exactly are the Fajardas?
Sunshine Charry A. Fajarda was a graduate of the University of Mindanao College of Legal Education. She passed the bar in 2018. In the 2024 Philippine Government Directory, she was listed as DepEd Assistant Secretary. All the rest of the ASecs had defined areas of responsibility (e.g. curriculum and teaching, procurement, operations, etc.). Mrs. Fajarda had none.
Practically nothing is publicly known of her husband Edward Fajarda. At the time of their DepEd positions, none of the Fajarda’s personal backgrounds were published, despite that the position of SDO is a highly trusted one.
For now we know little about their history with Sara Duterte. Both refuse to appear at the House of Representatives Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearings investigating her use of confidential funds. A subpoena ad testificandum has been issued to them to testify as witnesses.
So far they have refused, as five of their own colleagues in the OVP have. Who is ordering such mockery? There can only be no doubt – it is Sara Duterte.
Yet their continued non-appearance only bolsters the veracity of the four testimonies – that Edward and Sunshine Charry Fajarda were indispensable to Sara Duterte because they were her bag people in her culture of bribery.
It is not only that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is also that corruption can be delegated, that its system is made durable by disseminating the seeds of dishonesty to subordinates. Think of how much public money is lost to corruption under the hands of Sara Duterte.
Perhaps she now wants her seven staff workers to go down with her. Only two grim scenarios await the Fajarda couple – Sara’s conviction in an impeachment court where their refusal will be magnified in shame before the public, and the charge of plunder where they will certainly qualify as accomplices, then jail. They have no other choice.
The Fajardas can still challenge the inevitability of their fate. They can change the corrupt system by coming cleanly in confession instead of going down with Sara Duterte. History is now presenting them a window, and it will be a kinder history to the young couple.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
