Vice President Sara Duterte has again dodged questions on the “deliberations” of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) proposed P2.385 billion budget for 2024 despite pressure from the public and opposition to drop the P500 million Confidential Intellectual Funds (CIF) and answer the allegations of misuse of a P125 million confidential expense last year.
The budget was swiftly approved in just 15 minutes after Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative and Presidential Son, Sandro Marcos, moved to terminate the hearing right after a video presentation of the claimed accomplishments of the OVP without raising any questions even though some lawmakers wanted to.
“In line with the long standing tradition of giving the Office of the Vice President parliamentary courtesy, I move to terminate the budget of the Office of the Vice President,” said Marcos.
The parliamentary courtesy Marcos was talking about is the tradition between the two chambers of Congress not to interfere with one another.
"However, it should be noted that previous vice presidents did not have CIFs."
In a social media post, economist JC Punongbayan, author of False Nostalgia, shared a graph showing how much bigger the present OVP budget is than previous vice presidents. The graph shows that only Duterte had confidential funds amounting to P1 billion in just two years while the total budget of the OVP in 2022 was just P558,797.
Graph showing budget allocations of the OVP from 2017 – 2024. (Photo Courtesy of JC Punongbayan)
Avoiding questions
During the hearing, 21 members of the committee voted in approval of the termination and only the Makabayan Bloc composed of ACT Teachers Representative France Castro and Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel objected.
Requesting to be allowed to explain her no vote, Castro was denied freedom of speech in the halls of Congress.
“Meron tayong issue na dapat mapakinggan ng ating taong bayan at masagot ng Office of the Vice President. Kailangan malaman itong P125 million na (hindi) confidential fund, pero ginastos ng OVP at kung saan” Castro said before her microphone was turned off.
Castro was referring to an earlier revelation this week that the OVP spent P125 million in just 19 days based on a special allotment release order from the Department of Budget and Management (DMB) on December 13, 2022, and the Commission on Audit (COA) 2022 report that the OVP spent P125 million in confidential expenses.
Duterte earlier said that she would answer the allegations during a probe or the budget hearing. Some speculated that the vice president came unprepared to answer to Congress thus the need to terminate the hearing early to avoid questioning.
In a tweet, former Congressman and lawyer Barry Gutierrez wrote, “Word is nakiusap sa House leadership to end deliberations quickly, to evade questions about how she spent confidential and intel funds. Sadly, we're all still in the dark about how she spent our money”
Press statement instead
Unable to answer during the hearing, Duterte released a press statement instead on August 30 which still did not specifically answer where the funds were used.
“For the 2022 CF in the amount of P125 million, the OVP has already planned and identified events, activities, and projects to be covered by the CF as early as August.
"There was nothing irregular or unauthorized about its spending and the required liquidation and accomplishment reports have been submitted to the oversight agencies.” said Duterte.
“We urge the Makabayan bloc to end its rabid vilification of OVP over the 2022 CF if it doesn’t have any substantive information to back up imputations of misuse,” the vice president added.
Duterte was also grateful to the members of the Appropriations Committee for “their continued support for the programs of the OVP” and that the budget approval will allow her office to continue significant projects mainly the establishment of satellite and extension offices nationwide.
Photo Courtesy of House of Representatives
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