VICE President Sara Duterte said she used her confidential funds to investigate the involvement of former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co in the laptop scandal of the Department of Education (DepEd) when she still headed the department. It was the first time she revealed the use of the department’s confidential funds after being accused of fund misuse by the House Good Government Committee. In a press briefing in Zamboanga on Tuesday, Duterte said that they had been investigating the link of Co to the DepEd laptop scandal where it procured overpriced laptops for teachers that were below specification. “May I just say that there were confidential funds that went in that investigation, that Sunwest is the contractor of the DepEd laptops,” Duterte said. She mentioned this in the context of the Marcos administration not doing its own investigation and accused them of “perpetuating” themselves in power. The Manila Times reached out to Co and his office but has yet to receive a reply. Duterte also said she believed the Marcos administration is selective in its investigation to control the narrative. “If the Office of the President (OVP) is going to be involved in the investigation, it suddenly dies or is forgotten, so that means they are controlling the narrative,” Duterte said. She also said she is not in favor of making President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. resign, describing such calls as “pointless.” “I never said ‘Marcos Resign.’ What I said was to take a drug test... That is a hanging open challenge that until now he is not doing. That is a betrayal of public trust because when you are a president or a vice president, you consecrate yourself to the service of the nation,” Duterte said. She stressed that Marcos not taking a drug test constitutes a “betrayal of public trust,” and said the signing of the “doubtful” 2025 national budget was also a “culpable violation of the Constitution.” She also denied that Cavite 4th District Rep. Francisco Barzaga, who has been mounting calls for Marcos to resign, was acting on her orders, noting that the last time she talked to the young lawmaker was during the 2022 campaign, where he supported the “UniTeam” tandem. Duterte also said that she agrees with the proposal of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the OVP to have its own charter, including a permanent staffing pattern and residence.