‘Enough brattiness’: House members slam ‘conditions’ set by VP
House members on Friday threatened to slash the proposed P902.8-million budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) after Vice President Sara Duterte skipped, for the second year in a row, the plenary deliberations on the matter.
Adding to the acrimony was a letter Duterte wrote to the House appropriations committee saying she would attend the budget hearings on two conditions.
First is for President Marcos to also personally defend the proposed P27.3-billion budget for the Office of the President.
Second is for the House committee on good government to confirm that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had already lifted its lookout bulletin orders on her staff. The committee was the same body that looked last year into Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.
‘Barest minimum’
Palawan Rep. Jose Alvarez, a member of the appropriations committee said the panel decided not to reply to Duterte’s letter, while other lawmakers scoffed at her demands.
“Enough is enough, enough of her brattiness,” Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima said.
“If she can afford to show up in the Senate and applaud the former Senate President in his privilege speech, which is definitely not part of her mandate as the Vice President, why can’t she spare a few moments of her time attending the official function as Vice President to defend the budget of her office?” De Lima said.
She was referring to the speech delivered by Sen. Francis Escudero on Oct 1, which railed against former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice said Duterte was already being unreasonable, warning that the House would further reduce her budget “at the proper time.”
ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio also served notice that the OVP budget might be brought down “to its barest minimum.”
‘Such a waste’
It was actually the Department of Budget and Management that raised the proposed OVP budget to P902.8 million, after the OVP submitted a lower request of P733 million, that same amount it got last year.
Tinio also drew attention to Duterte’s recent trips abroad. “She keeps saying that she spent for these trips out of her own pocket, but she herself admitted that because she is the Vice President, it is the Filipino people paying for the travel expenses of her staff and security detail,” he said.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, vice chair of the appropriations panel, said it was “such a waste that [Duterte] didn]t go because she could have at least defended and explained to the plenary why she needed that increase.”
Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon told reporters “The Vice President is not in a position to make demands [which show] … her lack of respect for the budget process.”
On Thursday night, the House voted in plenary to terminate deliberations on the OVP budget. This means any changes must now be made during the period of amendments, which starts next week up to Oct. 13.
Since she broke her ties with Mr. Marcos beginning with her resignation as education secretary in June last year, Duterte’s proposed budget for her office became drastically reduced by the appropriations committee then headed by Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co.
In a better time, such as the start of the Marcos administration, she could propose a much higher budget—like the P2.3 billion which Co approved in 2022.
But last year, the Vice President was left with her current budget of P733 million after Co—who would soon be embroiled in the corruption scandal over flood control projects—slashed the OVP’s budget by more than P1 billion. He even reminded Duterte’s staff that funds allotted to her office were “the people’s money.”
