Sara Duterte’s refusal to answer questions turns OVP budget talks in House into catfight

MANILA, Philippines – The House budget deliberations for the Office of the Vice President devolved into a messy quarrel that the chamber has not seen in years, after Vice President Sara Duterte refused to answer questions about the OVP’s funds.

“I would like to forgo the opportunity to defend the budget in the question and answer format. I would leave it to the House to decide on the budget submitted,” Duterte told lawmakers after her opening speech on Tuesday, August 27.

House appropriations committee senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo went ahead with the proceedings, prompting an exasperated Duterte to say, “We are just wasting our time here.”

The rest of the hearing — which is ongoing as of writing time — saw Duterte constantly interrupt Quimbo, and even asked at one point that the Marikina lawmaker be replaced with the finance committee chairperson, perhaps referring to appropriations committee chairperson Zaldy Co.

Duterte also engaged in a quarrel with Makabayan bloc representatives, namely Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers, House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, and Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel.

Castro, in particular, wanted Duterte to explain how she utilized her confidential funds worth P125 million in 2022.

“According to COA, the notice of disallowance amounted to P73,287,000 out of P125 million…. Expenses on tables, chairs, desktop computers, reached P30.5 million. Can you explain why these were purchased?” Castro asked.

“This is a hearing on the budget of 2025. Where are the confidential funds here?” Duterte replied, referring to her agency’s proposed budget for next year, which has no confidential fund request.

It is not unusual for the House of Representatives to ask agency heads during budget deliberations how they utilized their funds in previous years.

“Kapag nasusukol na ang pusit ay naglalabas ng maitim na tinta. Ayaw natin ng ganoon. Ang pinag-uusapan dito ay budget. Huwag naman mag-ugaling pusit ang Office of the Vice President,” Castro commented. (A squid, when threatened, squirts its black ink. This is not supposed to come to that. We’re talking about the budget here. The OVP shouldn’t act like a squid.)

Davao City 3rd Representative Isidro Ungab later moved to strike out of the records Castro’s “squid tactic” comments, but he was overruled by his colleagues.

The breakdown of public decorum in the House is highly notable, considering that the same chamber moved to end deliberations of the OVP’s budget in 2022 and 2023 in under 20 minutes. This year’s deliberations have dragged on for more than two hours.

The tense exchanges came after a public falling out between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, two political families that entered into an alliance in the 2022 elections.

The OVP is seeking a budget of P2.037 billion for 2025, an increase from the P1.885 billion for the current year. – Rappler.com