Blame the Staff, Save the Boss

In what can only be described as a breathtaking leap forward in administrative law, Senator-Judge Imee Marcos has unveiled a groundbreaking legal theory during the Senate Impeachment Court.

For centuries, legal scholars have relied on the ancient doctrine of respondeat superior—the principle that the head of an agency is ultimately responsible for the actions of those under their supervision and what happens on their watch. But why stick to centuries of legal precedent when you can simply invent "Respondeat Inferior"?

Under this innovative new framework, when billions of pesos in confidential funds vanish into thin air, the Vice President and former Education Secretary is completely blameless.

The real mastermind villains? Her designated Special Disbursing Officers (SDOs), Gina Acosta and Edward Fajarda.

The Two Doctrines Of Accountability

-Traditional Law - Respondeat Superior - The agency head takes full responsibility for everything that happens underneath them.

-The Imee Marcs Edition - Respondeat Inferior - The agency takes all the credit ... while the staff takes 100 % of the blame.

During the impeachment cross-examination, Senator Imee took former Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Roderick Wamil to task over who should actually be wearing the handcuffs if the audit numbers don't add up. Listen to their Senate Floor Dialogue

-Sen. Imee Marcos - "Why are you picking on the Vice President? Did her name physically appear on the cash advance? No, Gina Acosta and Edward Fajarda hold the cash. They signed the paper. She was the boss who ordered it, approved it, authorized it, and spent it.

-Auditor Roderick Wamil: With all due respect, Your Honor, under COA rules and statutory Law, the head of the agency bears command responsibility for approving cash advances and ensuring joint circular compliance.

If Senator Imee’s logic holds, we must immediately rewrite how every government office, corporation, and household in the Philippines operates:

The New Top-Down Responsibility Chart
A.
-The Agency Head - Vice President
-Responsibility Level - 0%
-Duties: Approving funds, issuing statements, jet-setting
B
-Special Disbursing Officer
-Responsibility Level - 100 %
- Duties: carrying the cash, taking the fall, appearing on subpoenas

By this logic:

In a Restaurant: If the food gives 500 customers food poisoning, do not sue the owner or the head chef. Sue the dishwasher who handed out the plates!

In an Airline: If a plane lands in a ditch, the CEO and the pilot are completely innocent. The flight attendant who served the peanuts is the primary accountable officer.

In the Department of Education: If billions in budget allocations go missing, the Secretary was simply busy reading children's books. Blame the person holding the petty cash envelope!

Why have "too many tricks up her dirty sleeves" when a single, reliable trick works so well?

By insisting that only Acosta and Fajarda are the "primary accountable officers," the defense creates a convenient human shield.

If the prosecution wants answers about where the money went, they are told to go hunt down the SDOs—who, by total coincidence, are rarely available for comment, perpetually out of the country, or shielded by a mountain of technical objections.

Meanwhile, the Vice President can sit back, maintain her complete immunity from administrative oversight, and point at the organizational chart while whispering: "I just signed the papers, guys. Talk to the cashiers!"

While the prosecution and COA auditors continue to insist that statutory law makes the head of an agency ultimately accountable, Senator Imee Marcos has provided a masterclass in political sisterhood.

Why let a little thing like administrative law get in the way of protecting a political ally? After all, in the grand theater of Philippine impeachment trials, the buck doesn't stop at the top—it gets passed all the way down to the person holding the receipt book.