THE House committee on appropriation deferred on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, the deliberation on the proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) after Vice President Sara Duterte refused to answer queries related to how the agency uses its budget.
At the onset of the deliberations, as appropriations senior vice chair and Marikina Second District Representative Stella Quimbo opened the floor for interpellations, starting with ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro, Duterte said she would forgo the opportunity to defend the OVP budget.
“I would like to forego the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format. I will leave it up to the House to decide on the budget submitted,” she said.
In response, Quimbo reminded Duterte of the importance of the deliberation in crafting the 2025 budget, but the latter maintained that interpellators would receive similar answers from her.
“Magsasayang tayo ng oras dito kung paulit-ulit ‘yong sagot,” the VP added.
(We're wasting time here if the answers are just repeated.)
Castro inquired about the OVP’s P125 confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) for 2022, which was reportedly used in a span of just 11 days.
She also took note of the notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the P73.28 million out of the P125 million funds CIF used by the OVP in 2022.
The House committee earlier issued a subpoena on the COA reports on the use of confidential funds by the OVP.
Instead of answering the question directly, Duterte took a “snide” at Castro over her conviction for child abuse in relation to their alleged rescue of Lumad children in Talaingod town, Davao del Norte in 2018.
Duterte maintained that the questions during the deliberation should only focus on the P2.037 billion 2025 proposed budget of her office, to which the OVP has not requested any CIF.
The deliberation lasted for five hours as Duterte repeatedly dodged questions related to the matter.
She was also engaged in a heated exchange with several other house members who tried to squeeze information from her, particularly about the OVP’s CIF.
In an interview with reporters, OVP spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said they will reach out to Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong who sponsored the OVP's proposed 2025 budget in the House of Representatives plenary.
Adion earlier said that defending the OVP’s budget is a “difficult task” as he expressed disappointment with Duterte's demeanor.
“Well, she tried to avoid questions. It’s very apparent naman. She avoided answering some questions. Not some questions but even all of the questions. So everyone is really asking this reason why. Your guess is as good as mine. I cannot speak for her, the way she responded to the question but I can tell you it’s going to be a difficult task for me to defend and sponsor the budget,” he said.
“I was hoping that all the questions from my colleagues will be satisfactorily answered by the Vice President. Unfortunately, that did not happen. So, of course, I’m a bit frustrated on how things went during the course of the committee deliberations,” he added. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)