MANILA, Philippines — In less than an hour, the House of Representatives approved yesterday the P903-million budget for 2026 of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
The House accorded inter-parliamentary courtesy as only Vice President Sara Duterte showed up to defend the OVP budget, even after she refused to answer questions about the use of confidential funds by her office.
Duterte said she showed up alone because the detention of her chief of staff in 2024 after grilling by lawmakers had caused much anxiety among OVP executives.
“I talked to my fellow members of the OVP and of course, all are apprehensive on what happened before to the personnel, on what transpired during the committee hearing of the House of Representatives, many personnel of the Office of the Vice President were nervous, many suffered anxiety and many got sick, so I told them it is best if I will face the budget hearing ng Office of the Vice President alone,” Duterte said in an ambush interview.
The House committee on appropriations deliberated on the proposed P903-million budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) yesterday.
Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez was cited in contempt in November 2024 for intellectual dishonesty and was detained in the chamber upon the motion of then representative France Castro of party-list ACT Teachers.
Meanwhile, Duterte maintained that she did not use public funds in her 13 foreign travels, saying that the P7.47-million funding from the OVP was used for her security and civilian personnel.
“Yes, it is very clear that I did not use (public funds) for myself, no government money was used for my trips overseas,” she said.
Duterte added that it is the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that decides on the number of security personnel during her foreign trips.
“The (expenses) of the security are being charged to the Office of the Vice President. It is the decision of the AFP on how many or who (will accompany me) and second Office of the Vice President personnel join (travel abroad) if there are activities for the Office of the Vice President,” Duterte added.
She said she decided to waive her parliamentary immunity after the panel allowed two of the members of the minority to interpolate her during the budget deliberation of the OVP.
“That’s a tradition, a privilege. I said, ‘I will waive that privilege’,” she added.
Questions ignored
But at the hearing, she refused to answer questions from members of the Makabayan bloc on her confidential and intelligence funds purportedly upon the advice of her lawyers, citing a pending motion for consideration of the House of Representatives on a Supreme Court decision declaring her impeachment unconstitutional.
“We expected many questions but only two were tackled. On the issue of confidential funds, I was told by my defense lawyers not to answer as they have defense strategy which not be disclosed,” Duterte said.
Makabayan bloc’s ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co interpolated Duterte during the budget deliberations.
Duterte said her defense team is always ready in case the SC rejects the appeal on its decision, and another impeachment case is filed next year or in 2027 or even before the election season in 2028. “So this is all about the presidential elections of 2028,” she added.
Duterte said Tinio’s and Co’s questioning was part of the attacks against her.
