Unlike in past years, the House appropriations committee did not extend the courtesy to the Office of the Vice President by subjecting Vice President Sara Duterte to a grilling on how her office spent its budget in the past and how it intends to use its proposed P2.03 billion outlay for 2025.
But when the P10.51 billion budget for the Office of the President was presented, the panel quickly terminated the briefing in a display of parliamentary courtesy to a co-equal branch of government.
Based on the questions raised on the OVP’s budget, it seems that the statement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July is inaccurate. He said the P6.35-trillion proposed budget for 2025 was “crafted with utmost care, diligence and meticulous attention,” as he urged Congress to approve it swiftly and “be adhered to as closely as possible.”
“We expect all agencies to ensure that every centavo allocated will be judiciously spent for our urgent priorities and socially impactful programs,” Marcos continued in his SONA, repeating a promise made the previous year.
Duterte has been taking a beating in the past few weeks for refusing to answer most of the questions from lawmakers, particularly on how her office spent the P125 million confidential funds in the last 11 days of 2022.
Her refusal to respond to queries on the same subject resulted in the realignment of the P500 million and P150 million in confidential funds for the OVP and the Department of Education, respectively, for 2024.
Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta called out lawmakers for not keeping the long-held tradition of extending parliamentary courtesy to a high office, such as the OVP, by not subjecting its budget to a debate.
“Are we now setting aside this tradition? That’s the No. 1 question. No. 2, is this committee authorized to set aside the tradition?” Marcoleta asked after his motion to terminate the OVP budget discussion was defeated in a vote.
Sen. Joel Villanueva spoke in the same tone, expressing his dismay at the House appropriation committee’s recommendation to the plenary to cut the OVP’s proposed P2.03 billion budget by P1.30 billion, or about 63%, from the budget for financial assistance, consultants, utilities and supplies, and rental expenses in 2025.
The amount slashed was proposed to be realigned to the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the medical assistance program of the Department of Health (DoH), with the two agencies getting an almost equal share of about P646 million each.
Villanueva said keeping traditions in the legislature is important. “It may not be part of the law, it may not be part of the rules of both houses, but we always submit to the traditions of our institution,” he said in an interview.
The vice presidents before Duterte were given the courtesy. Former vice president Leni Robredo was even granted an increase. She never asked for confidential funds during her term.
Last year, lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc in the House attempted to question the OVP’s spending habits, but Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos was quick to move for the termination of discussions, which was as speedily seconded, and the hearing was adjourned by Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, the same person who chaired this year’s hearings and who even castigated Duterte for suggesting a change in the committee’s presiding officer.
In the Senate, she was rebuked in 2023 when she tossed questions thrown at her to her undersecretary at the DepEd. At times, she was visibly struggling to answer the questions.
The big difference between Duterte and the past vice presidents was their attitude in facing the lawmakers. While her predecessors showed respect and humility in presenting their budget proposals, Duterte was in fighting mode. When she first appeared at the Senate on Aug. 20, she was combative, quickly accusing opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros of “politicizing” the government budget when she asked about the vice president’s self-authored book.
“For 2025, one of the OVP’s programs [is] Pagbabago campaign: A million learners entries involve the provision of bags to one million learners in remote communities while initiating tree planting activities. This gets an appropriation of P100,000 million. Part of this campaign is an allocation of P10 million for the distribution of ‘Isang Kaibigan’ books, a children’s book authored by the vice president,” Hontiveros said.
Duterte even veered away from the budget and reminded Hontiveros of the time she sought her support to get votes from the Visayas and Mindanao but became among her father’s harsh critics after she won the election.
When she appeared at the House on Aug. 27, she was unaccompanied by other OVP officials. Then, she did not show up on Sept. 10.
While the House is justified in scrutinizing the OVP budget, it should have exercised the same fine-tooth comb in approving the OP budget, including its P4.56 billion confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), as well as those of other agencies.
Grilling Duterte on the OVP spending habits and plans while observing the tradition of extending parliamentary courtesy to the Office of the President gives the vice president an opportunity to portray herself as a victim of politicking.
We cannot say at this point if Marcos has been judiciously spending the P4.56 billion CIF and other lump sums in the budget until it is scrutinized.
Even cherished traditions should be broken when it is misused and abused.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
