Dwayne Pelagio

Vice President Sara Duterte refused to attend the rescheduled proceedings of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) proposed 2025 budget on Sept. 24, leaving lawmakers questioning the latter’s seriousness in her work.

Photo Courtesy of INQUIRER.net

Ako Bicol party-list Representative Raul Angelo Bongalon said in a press release that the vice president has been consistent in refusing to attend the Committee on Appropriations’ hearing and the plenary debate regarding her office’s budget proposal, showing that she’s not interested in her duties and functions.

“So if that’s how it appears, probably we can ask her to step down as the vice president because we are already seeing that she is not attending the hearings in the Congress. So, what does it mean? Is she not interested anymore? That she went to a beach resort? Than to attend a hearing for her budget? So I guess it’s the Filipino people… It’s up to them to judge the vice president,” Bongalon said, also pertaining to Duterte’s trip to Calaguas Islands, Camarines Norte to relax rather than attend the scheduled plenary debate of the House of Representatives on Monday.

According to lawmakers, this is the first time that a head of agency or an authorized representative didn’t appear in a budget deliberation and the letter sent by the OVP is not enough since Duterte is required to answer the questions of the solons.

Even though the OVP sent representatives to the hearing, they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the vice president.

House Deputy Speaker David Suarez said the funds have to be properly explained, to determine how they were used, and how they are planned to be utilized for the succeeding year. 

Lawmakers allegedly waited 17 hours, from its scheduled time of 10:00 AM - 3:00 AM for the vice president to show up in the plenary debate of the Congress.

Kabataan party-list Representative Raoul Manuel stressed during the scheduled hearing before dawn that the vice president’s refusal to attend is a “clear betrayal of public trust” as every elected official is accountable to the electorate, and thus is obliged to answer any question that concerns public interest.

The OVP denied the statements of lawmakers that waited for Duterte on the same day, stating that they had informed the House ahead of time that the vice president or her representatives were not attending. 

‘OVP vs. Lawmakers’

The OVP also stated that the Sept. 11 letter to Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Adiong telling him “the OVP has submitted all the required documents to the committee pertaining to its budget request for the upcoming year” and leaves the deliberation of the budget proposal in the plenary entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives.

The House Committee on Appropriations has recommended a P733-million budget for the OVP for 2025, a P1.29-billion reduction from the office’s proposal of P2-billion due to the vice president’s refusal to answer the lawmakers’ questions regarding the P73-million confidential funds that was a issued a notice of disallowance by the Commission on Audit (CA) due to lack of supporting evidences for legal use. 

Duterte earlier accused lawmakers in a house hearing of an impeachment attempt, stating that the budget is not the target, but rather they are just making a case for impeachment.

Bagyong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said on Monday that impeaching Duterte is “necessary” so that she can be held accountable over fund misuse allegations.

Bayan secretary general Mong Palatino stated she must be impeached as Duterte’s refusal to answer questions on the OVP’s confidential fund usage during a budget deliberation is enough basis for an impeachment complaint to be filed against her.

Palatino also referred to the August 27 House hearing when Duterte answered lawmakers’ questions by saying that she either forgoes the opportunity to defend the OVP’s budget in a question-and-answer format, or by insisting that they have already coordinated with the CA regarding the notice of disallowance