OVP budget hearing: VP Sara goes ballistic

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte went ballistic during yesterday’s House of Representatives appropriations committee hearing on her office’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 as she brushed aside almost all questions thrown at her by lawmakers.

In her opening speech, Duterte went on the offensive as she mentioned several issues that had been previously raised against her, including her security personnel, the confidential funds in her 2024 budget, the children’s book she had written and her supposed impeachment by the lower chamber.

Before the interpellation started, however, she informed presiding officer and panel senior vice chairperson, Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, that she would not answer questions regarding the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s proposed budget.

“I would like to forego the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format. I will leave it up to the House to decide on the budget submitted. We will just waste time here, the answers will be repetitive,” Duterte said.

To which, Quimbo replied: “Madam Vice President, we have 17 members listed for interpellation, and as you know, you’ve been here many times for our budget briefing. That this is an important part of the budget briefing. The General Appropriations Act is arguably the most important piece of legislation every year.”

Lawmakers proceeded to question Duterte, first of whom was Duterte’s critic, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, who tried to ask Duterte about her office’s confidential fund in the 2024 budget.

Castro explained that the OVP’s confidential fund remains an unanswered concern, but she still failed to squeeze a response from Duterte.

This prompted Castro to liken Duterte to a squid that spits black ink when cornered, a remark deleted by the panel after voting.

Duterte pointed out that the OVP’s budget for 2025 contains no allocation for confidential fund, so there is no point in questioning her about it.

At some points during the hearing, the Vice President tried to ask questions and speak without being recognized, prompting Quimbo to call her out.

Duterte also called Quimbo’s attention for allowing Castro to make “snide comment on her,” so she demanded to make one also.

“Where in the budget proposal of 2025 is the item confidential funds? In your ‘in aid of legislation,’ your rules state that ‘the discussion should be germane to the topic.’ The topic is the 2025 budget proposal, so tell me where is the confidential fund,” the Vice President said.

Quimbo noted that Castro had already explained why she was asking about the secret fund.

To everyone’s surprise, Duterte requested that the chairperson of the House finance committee be the hearing’s presiding officer instead of Quimbo.

The House, however, does not have such a panel, and what exists is a committee on banks and financial intermediaries.

“Madam Vice President, with due respect, you are not allowed to do that... You are not allowed to introduce any motion, you are a resource person in this hearing,” Quimbo told Duterte.

“Just please answer the question. The issue on confidential fund falls in our discussion of the 2025 budget,” Quimbo added.

Duterte’s ally, former president and incumbent Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, interjected, saying the issue of confidential fund had already been discussed in last year’s budget hearing.

“It was settled that the issue would be the 2025 budget and in all our hearings, as I recall, when we want to question something, about performance, we question the 2024 budget, not the 2023 budget,” Arroyo added.

She argued that raising the concern on confidential fund meant discussing the previous year’s budget all over again.

After more than five hours of hearing, the committee decided to suspend the proceedings and continue on Sept. 10.

COA to VP: Return P73 million

Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered Duterte to return P73.28 million of the P125 million in confidential funds that her office spent in just 11 days in December 2022.

This was revealed yesterday by Castro during the hearing.

The disallowed expenditures, amounting to nearly two-thirds of the total confidential fund, included payments for rewards in the form of goods rather than in cash and the procurement of tables, chairs, desktop computers and printers – expenses that appeared inconsistent with the intended use of confidential funds.

Castro questioned the “prudence of spending P125 million in just 11 days, especially given the OVP’s generally low utilization rate for other budget allocations.”

“We even saw this in the presentation. So the utilization (rate) is so low. But, of course, I just want to comment, she’s faster when it comes to confidential funds, 100 percent in 11 days,” she pointed out, pressing Duterte for an explanation of the disallowed purchases.

The Vice President, however, had declared at the start of the hearing that she would not answer questions not related to her office’s 2025 budget allocation.

Castro’s questions were valid, according to Quimbo, especially given the ongoing concerns about how the confidential funds had been used.

“The Honorable France Castro has already provided a sufficient explanation as to why she asked the question, so please proceed with your answer,” Quimbo said, addressing Duterte.

Castro highlighted that P40 million of the confidential funds had been allocated for medical and food aid, questioning how such a large amount could have been spent so quickly.

“So this means, Madam Chair, with some math, it turns out that P3.64 million every day was spent for food and medical aid. So we don’t understand how this was spent in 11 days,” she said.

The lawmaker also emphasized that the COA’s Notice of Disallowance made the spending of the funds illegal.

“If disallowed, the use of such is illegal,” she said.

COA Assistant Commissioner Alexander Juliano told the hearing that a Notice of Disallowance signifies that an expenditure is deemed improper by the agency. — Emmanuel Tupas