Sara: I can work with zero budget

MANILA, Philippines —  Claiming alleged efforts in Congress to strip her office of funding, Vice President Sara Duterte said she could still function “even without a budget.”

Duterte said she was aware of talks to defund the Office of the Vice President following her clash with lawmakers over the OVP’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 and her accusations against Speaker Martin Romualdez and House appropriations committee chairman Rep. Zaldy Co that they have hijacked control of taxpayers’ money.

“Our office is small. Our operations are small so we can afford to work even without a budget. We know that’s all part of the attack. So we will continue to do what we need to do for the people,” Duterte said in a taped interview sent to reporters yesterday.

After clashing with lawmakers two weeks ago over budget mismanagement, Duterte and officials of the OVP skipped Tuesday’s scheduled budget deliberations before the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee. Instead, her office released a taped interview where she accused Romualdez and Co of hijacking billions in additional funds meant to build and repair classrooms.

The Vice President said neither she nor officials of the OVP attended the hearing as she was expecting a “scripted” political sideshow attack on her person.

“During the budget hearing last Aug. 27, you could see they have prepared an audiovisual presentation. They also prepared a script to take cues from,” she said.

“We can see the cues of ‘Let’s stick to our plan. Let’s attack her. Let’s make it about confidential funds instead of the OVP’s 2025 budget proposal,’” she added.

Meanwhile, Duterte also accused House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of orchestrating an impeachment plot against her.

“Talks of impeaching me are not new. If we go back to last year, France Castro spoke in November 2023, she said, ‘Oh, we are talking about the impeachment of Inday Sara.’ And she gave grounds for them to file an impeachment. That’s why the impeachment is being talked about openly in the House of Representatives. And France Castro is always there in the middle in the matter of impeachment with me,” she said.

Haunted by CIF

House lawmakers said the P125-million confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) issue must have haunted Duterte, especially since she refused to explain how the expenses were incurred.

“She only has herself to blame, because she’s the head of the agency. Whether it resulted in malfeasance or whatsoever, it is her responsibility and accountability to explain why these findings have been observed by COA,” Rep. Jude Acidre told reporters in a weekly briefing.

Rep. Rodge Gutierrez of party-list 1Rider echoed the same sentiments. “I think she just refuses to take accountability for all that we are looking for in Congress and exercise the power of the purse.”

La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the issues Duterte are now facing are “self-inflicted,” refuting her claims of being unfairly targeted and her office defunded. “Most of what she has been saying is that she is attacking herself, it seems like it’s self-inflicted,” he said.

Assistant Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong added that Duterte’s accusations of politicking are misplaced.

“I think the ones accusing us of politicking are the ones actually doing the politicking,” the Mindanao legislator said, emphasizing that budget deliberations, which Duterte snubbed on Tuesday, are a key part of lawmakers’ mandate and sworn duty.

Alvarez defends VP

Despite being ousted by then Davao City mayor and now Vice President Duterte as Speaker in July 2018, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez seems to be making amends by defending her against a potential impeachment complaint.

In a statement, Alvarez said efforts to impeach Duterte are “political suicide for Congress.”

Such a move, he maintained, is “largely driven by petty political ambitions rather than genuine governance concerns” and that “it reeks of an attempt to eliminate a perceived political rival rather than serving the interests of the Filipino people.”

“The country risks descending into chaos if this reckless political move proceeds. Thus, an impeachment, within this context, is political suicide for the administration and chaotic for the nation,” Alvarez said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa defended the Vice President from moves in Congress to reduce the OVP’s proposed P2.037-billion budget next year.

“We in the Senate will not give her a hard time. It is very obvious that she was being ganged up on in the House of Representatives,” Dela Rosa said in a press briefing at the Senate yesterday.

Dela Rosa said it was the Vice President’s choice to snub the budget hearings at the House. “It’s her call to forgo the opportunity to defend her budget. And since the House of Representatives has the power of the purse, they can do what they want to do,” he said. –  Sheila Crisostomo, Delon Porcalla, Marc Jayson Cayabyab