Advice to Sara Duterte on her budget: Don’t act like ‘entitled brat’

MANILA, Philippines — In deliberations on the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), Congress has always heeded what many politicians described as “parliamentary courtesy”, or the practice of letting the OVP budget sail smoothly.

But while such practice prevailed over OVP budget deliberations under previous vice presidents, it seemed to be absent in the case of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is being questioned on how it was possible for her office to spend P125 million in confidential funds in just 11 days.

In the Philippines, vice presidents are elected separately from the president, unlike in the United States where a vote for the presidential candidate is carried as a vote for the running mate.

So when Sara Duterte was elected as vice president in 2022, the House committee on appropriations took only five minutes to pass her P2.3 billion budget. Last year, her proposed P2.4 billion budget was approved in just 15 minutes.

This was not unusual, though, as previous OVP budgets under past vice presidents also benefited from parliamentary courtesy.

Then Vice President Leni Robredo’s budget proposal for the OVP was approved in a few minutes with her budget in 2017 being passed in just two minutes. The longest it took the House to pass her budget was less than 30 minutes. She was serving as second in line to then-President Rodrigo Duterte, who was generally hostile to her.

During the time of Jejomar Binay, who was vice president of then President Noynoy Aquino, deliberations on the OVP budget took only minutes. In 2014, Congress passed his proposed P222 million budget for 2015 in just five minutes.

In a radio interview last year, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo explained that it had been a “long-standing tradition” of the House to extend parliamentary courtesy to the vice president in budget deliberations.

“We don’t want to embarrass the president as well as the vice president,” she had said then. This practice shields the two highest officials of the land from tough questions.

This year, however, was different. It seemed that parliamentary courtesy had flown out the window.

When Sara Duterte went to the House to present her P2.04 billion proposed budget, deliberations did not end in minutes, or even in an hour, as close to 20 lawmakers grilled her over the P125 million in confidential funds that the OVP spent in just 11 days in 2022.

READ: OVP budget deferred after Duterte evades questions at House hearing

The briefing lasted for five hours, but Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun eventually called for deferment of deliberations to Sept. 10 as Sara Duterte repeatedly declined to directly respond to most of the concerns raised.

Controversial

For Maria Ela Atienza, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, the House was conscious of how the public reacted to Duterte’s confidential funds in 2022, and her request for P500 million more for 2024.

While Duterte eventually dropped her bid for P500 million worth of confidential funds, the backlash was so loud that lawmakers have decided to quiz her over the secret funds that the OVP had received since 2022.

Likewise, Atienza pointed out that in the budget deliberations on Tuesday, Aug. 27, Duterte conducted herself in an “uncooperative, disrespectful, and insulting manner.”

This, as Duterte requested a change in the presiding officer of the committee, directly challenging Quimbo, who had defended the right of Rep. France Castro, representing ACT Teachers which had been red-tagged by Duterte, to question the current vice president.

READ: VP Duterte wants Quimbo replaced as OVP budget hearing presider

Duterte, instead of replying to questions about her use of secret funds, raised the conviction for child abuse of Castro in a case that involved the rescue of lumad children caught in the crossfire of military operations against communist rebels in Talaingod, Davao del Norte in 2018.

Castro, in response to Duterte, said the vice president was diverting the issue away from her spending patterns.

READ: Squid tactics? Castro scores VP Sara for deflecting secret fund issue

“Unlike Robredo who conducted herself with dignity and diplomacy even when clearly identified with the opposition, Duterte was combative and disrespectful of a co-equal branch of government,” Atienza told INQUIRER.net.

No direct answers

Throughout the interpellation, even when questions were not about confidential funds, which Duterte said was no longer related to her budget request for 2025, she only had this to say:

“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.”

This, even when Quimbo reminded her that the discussions are important.

Duterte, on the issue of confidential funds, including questions on the notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) to the OVP regarding the disbursement of secret funds in 2022, responded with this:

“On the issue of confidential funds, we have received audit actions from COA regarding the confidential funds of the OVP. We have submitted our responses, and we assure the public of our full cooperation with the ongoing audit.”

She likewise pointed out that she was invited to the deliberations for the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget, insisting that “discussions should be germane to the topic.” “This is [a] hearing of the budget of 2025, where is the confidential funds here?”

RELATED STORY: Use of confidential funds recalled, irking VP Sara Duterte

But Quimbo said that it “falls squarely within our discussion of the 2025 budget.”

She stressed that in the invitation sent to the OVP, Comparative Budget Allocation and Utilization Rate from 2019 to 2023 was listed as one of the topics to be discussed in the deliberations.

RELATED STORY: Vice President Sara Duterte may have set ‘bad precedent’

Quimbo likewise explained that while the OVP’s confidential funds had been intensely debated last year, “we asked the COA to complete the audit by November, and since then, we no longer know what happened.”

“That is the reason why we are discussing it now,” Quimbo said.

Victimized?

As pointed out by Atienza, “Duterte had a prepared script, daring members of the House to attack her and prepared to paint herself as a victim.” “Clearly, she is not used to being questioned and held accountable.”

“She tried to exert her power and when she could not get her way, she appeared like a petulant, entitled brat […] Perhaps, this is because in Davao City, very few dared to question the Duterte family,” she said.

Atienza reminded Duterte that she is now a national official.

“She cannot dictate people around her, especially now that the UniTeam is no more,” she said, referring to Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s tandem in the 2022 elections.

READ: OVP 2025 budget bid still under scrutiny at House: No quick OK this time

The budget deliberations, Atienza said, was a good reminder to everyone that no one is above the law and anyone who holds a public position and in charge of public funds should explain why and how they plan to use the funds they are asking for.

“She needs to answer properly and respectfully not only to respect the legislature which is a co-equal branch but also to bring dignity to her own office. She is the second highest official of the country and should be subject to scrutiny,” Atienza said.

She pointed out, however, that whether allies or not, there is a need to scrutinize and ask questions: “Congress has the power and duty to scrutinize proposed budgets and demand accountability from everyone, including themselves.”

READ: Stop giving parliamentary courtesy to top gov’t execs, asks lawmakers

This, as in the past two years, Duterte was still part of the UniTeam with Marcos.

Now, Atienza said, “she and her family have openly broken up with the Marcoses and the administration”.

She added that “the Dutertes have publicly attacked the President, while the Vice President has attacked the House Speaker who is also the cousin of the President.”

“ As we have seen in Philippine politics, we have very weak political parties and legislators, especially in the House, mostly ally themselves with the sitting president regardless of the party they ran under during the last elections,” she said.