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The House plenary debates are important because lawmakers will deliberate on an earlier committee recommendation to slash the proposed 2025 budget of the Sara Duterte-led OVP by P1.3 billion
MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte appears to have skipped the House plenary debates on her funding request for 2025 on Monday, September 23, the second time she snubbed congressional budget deliberations for her office.
Public social media posts indicated that Duterte was in Daet, Camarines Norte for some meet-and-greet events on Monday, and had reportedly gone to the beaches of Calaguas Island over the weekend.
The responsibility to stand behind the rostrum and answer questions from House members actually rests with lawmakers assigned to sponsor the budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), but agency heads or high-ranking agency officials are still expected to be present in the chamber to offer assistance to their budget sponsors.
In 2022 and 2023, Duterte personally graced the budget debates in the House plenary.
Based on the updated budget schedule sent to reporters ahead of Monday’s proceedings, and as confirmed by Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, the OVP was scheduled to go first, at 10 am, but her absence, so far, has prompted the House leadership to deliberate on the funding requests of other government agencies first.
“We delayed it a bit. Until now, we are waiting,” Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said on Monday afternoon. “Her staff sent a representative… but there was no written authorization and written explanation.”
Libanan added that the members from the House minority have already prepared their questions for Duterte’s office, but he believes the majority will not push through with the debates on Monday unless the OVP sends an authorized representative.
Tasked to defend the budget are seven lawmakers led by Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, who received a letter from Duterte on Monday morning saying that “the OVP leaves the deliberation of our budget proposal in the plenary entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives.”
Two rounds of budget briefings were scheduled by the House appropriations committee for the OVP. The first one, on August 27, saw the Vice President refusing to answer several budget-related questions directed at her office, while clashing with lawmakers, whom she accused to their face of plotting her supposed impeachment; the second one, on September 10, saw Duterte and the OVP completely skip the proceedings.
The issues hounding Duterte’s OVP include her past confidential expenses including P73 million in funds disallowed by the Commission on Audit in 2022, P164 million in other secret expenses flagged by state auditors in 2023, the OVP’s fund underutilization, her socioeconomic projects, which lawmakers believe are a duplication of programs provided by other government agencies, and the mounting costs of maintaining a dozen satellite and extension offices across the country.
Duterte’s “boycott” — as described by House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro — of the September 10 hearing gave the House appropriations committee a reason to justify its recommendation to the plenary to slash the OVP’s 2025 budget request from P2.037 billion to P733 million.
The Vice President previously said she is ready to work even with a zero budget.
The House plenary will finalize the lower chamber’s approved budget for Duterte’s office, although the Senate may disagree on how much the OVP would get in 2025. Clashing provisions in the approved budget documents will be reconciled once representatives of both chambers convene for a bicameral conference later this year.
Duterte is already the subject of a congressional probe into her alleged misuse of public funds — accusations that the Vice President has denied.
“There is no misuse of funds. If there are audit findings, we shall gladly respond to them before the Commission on Audit. And if there are legitimate cases to be filed, then we shall gladly respond to them before the appropriate courts,” Duterte said on September 17.
“It is clear to me that this inquiry is not about misused funds, accountability or governance. Instead, it is solely aimed at discrediting my name and my office to prevent future political contests,” she added.
Outside the Batasang Pambansa, leftist groups held a protest on Monday calling for Duterte’s impeachment.
“Sara Duterte’s bastardization of the national budget, refusal to explain her budget proposal worth billions of pesos…is a big slap in the face of Filipinos,” Makabayan co-chairperson Liza Maza said. – Rappler.com
