September 25, 2024 | 9:19am
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez, will observe “maximum leniency” on Vice President Sara Duterte by waiting until Wednesday, September 25, for her to personally appear and defend the 2025 budget of her office.
“We are extending maximum leniency in the hopes of allowing the Office of the Vice President to defend its budget,” 1Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez told reporters at a news briefing, noting that Congress’ break starts this coming Friday.
His colleagues, Deputy Speaker and Quezon 2nd District Rep. Jayjay Suarez and Reps. Paolo Ortega V (La Union first district), Jay Khonghun (Zambales first district) and Jil Bongalon (Ako Bicol party-list) assured the second highest elected official of the land that she would be given the opportunity to defend her proposed budget for next year.
“We will wait until Wednesday,” Bongalon said, while Suarez remarked that they would “give her all the opportunity” to appear.
“I hope she will not give false hopes and be a baby. We are extending the courtesy and respect for the OVP,” Ortega said.
“We’re hoping that at the very least, she respects the budget process,” Khonghun maintained.
The plenary hearing for the OVP was scheduled at 10 a.m. last Monday, but Duterte was again a no-show just like the September 10 hearing at the appropriations committee led by its chairman and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, which resulted in the P1.3-billion budget cut of the vice president’s original P2-billion proposal.
The OVP representative that Duterte sent, according to lawmakers, was “not authorized” to represent her.
Suarez lamented that Duterte never sent the House leadership “any explanation or letter” giving them any legitimate excuse from her absence, unlike the late DMW secretary Toots Ople who sent her “authorized representative” when she was still in Saudi Arabia fixing problems of overseas Filipino workers.
Asked what will happen if Duterte still refuses to cooperate, Suarez explained that he did not want to “pre-empt” or second-guess what his 315 House colleagues will do in the plenary.
“This is not for us (“Young Guns”) to decide. Let’s wait for the plenary to decide,” Suarez said.
Khonghun told legislative journalists that they are giving Duterte “maximum leeway.”
As for Duterte’s reported trip to the Calaguas beach resort in Camarines Norte shortly after she visited Robredo in Naga City for the Peñafrancia festival, the administration lawmakers said it was “very unfortunate,” if indeed the reports are proven true.
The assigned sponsor of the OVP budget, Adiong, waited for 17 hours last Monday for the OVP personnel to arrive but to no avail, which resulted in the suspension of the budget deliberations.
There has been growing frustration from both administration and opposition lawmakers over the repeated acts of defiance of either Duterte or her staff during key budget discussions and investigations in aid of legislation.
“We have disposed of all the items on the agenda today, except for one – the budget of the office of the OVP – and we have just checked the holding room of the OVP in the House premises and there are no persons present,” Pangasinan 6th District Rep. Marlyn Primicias Agabas said.
The absence of any representative from the OVP is particularly significant as the House is in the critical stages of deliberating its 2025 budget.
Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel expressed his frustration during the session, highlighting the Vice President’s continuous disregard for the House’s role in budget approval.
“Mr. Speaker, we actually waited for 17 hours since 10 a.m. of Sept. 23 up until 3 a.m. of Sept. 24.”
He said this is not the first time that Duterte acted disrespectfully toward the House, as she has been accused of evasiveness and a lack of transparency regarding the OVP’s expenditures as well as during her tenure as education secretary. — Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano
