FILE PHOTO: Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., chair of the House committee on human rights, delivers his speech during the start of their hearing on alleged extrajudicial killings during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in this photo taken on May 21, 2024. – Abante called out Vice President Sara Duterte for skipping the House of Representatives hearings on her office’s budget on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (Photo screengrab from House of Representatives YouTube livestream)
MANILA, Philippines — Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante called out Vice President Sara Duterte for skipping the House of Representatives hearings on her office’s budget.
He said even the country’s second-highest official should not insult the House of Representatives.
According to Abante, Vice President Duterte’s letter to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and House committee on appropriations head Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co would not suffice because she has to be present to defend the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
“My goodness, I think that her writing a letter to us telling us that she has completed […] she still must be present Madam Chair. And because she is not present, she is actually insulting this sacred institution that should scrutinize the budget of the Vice President,” Abante said in a manifestation during Tuesday’s hearing.
“And I do not care even if she is the Vice President, Madam Chair, I will not allow that Congress will be insulted by the head of any agency,” he added.
Duterte opted to not attend the House hearing on Tuesday and just submitted a letter to the panel. In her letter, Duterte said the OVP already submitted “all necessary documentation to the House of Representatives-Committee on Appropriations, including a detailed presentation on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025.”
Tuesday’s hearing was a continuation of the House committee’s deliberations on the OVP spending plan next year. During the last hearing on August 27, Duterte refrained from giving direct answers to lawmakers’ questions surrounding her office’s expenditures which led to the postponement of the proceedings.
Duterte’s absence on Tuesday, however, raised more questions, according to Abante.
The lawmaker likewise noted that even the Commission on Audit (COA) representatives have conceded that certain questions could only be answered by the OVP.
“It is also a cherished tradition in Congress that whenever we deliberate the budget of a certain agency, that the head of the agency must be present. At this point in time, there are no staff here, or head of agency present in the Office of the Vice President […] the COA even answered that only the OVP would be able to answer that,” Abante said.
READ: Advice to Sara Duterte on her budget: Don’t act like ‘entitled brat’
“Perhaps we could be able to say, earlier Congressman (Rodante) Marcoleta said it’s a cherished tradition to approve the budget immediately, but there’s a cherished tradition that when we deliberate the budget of any agency, that the head of agency should be present,” he added.
Abante was referring to Marcoleta’s criticism of the House panel, which supposedly failed to observe the tradition of giving courtesy to the OVP because the committee went on to scrutinize the agency’s proposed budget.
Marcoleta made a motion to terminate deliberations on the OVP’s budget and give parliamentary courtesy to Duterte’s office in respect of the long-standing tradition of the House. But several lawmakers objected to Marcoleta’s plea.
READ: ‘Stop the drama’: VP Duterte told to answer House’s queries on budget
Eventually, Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo put Marcoleta’s motion to a vote. Forty-five approved the continuation of deliberations on the OVP’s 2025 budget, while only three – Marcoleta, Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab, and Davao Occidental Rep. Claude Bautista – backed the motion to terminate it.
ACT Teacher party-list Rep. France Castro and Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas likewise slammed Duterte for her absence in Tuesday’s hearing.
They said that while the Vice President “may not like” being questioned about her office’s expenses, “she is accountable to the people” as a public official.
“She may not like being questioned about the OVP expenses, she may not like sitting with us here in the House, but Madam Chair, she is accountable to the people, and she has a sworn duty to the Constitution as the head of the agency to be here para ipagtanggol o malaman natin ang budget niya (to defend or so we can be informed about the budget),” the party-list lawmaker said.