VP Sara’s refusal to defend OVP budget slammed as ‘smokescreen’

Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano  (File photo from Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s refusal to answer questions on the proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2025 is only a “smokescreen” so that questions on her use of funds can be avoided.

Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano made the statement on Wednesday.

During his opening speech at the House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability, he said that Duterte’s insistence on not defending the OVP budget is what led the panel to hold a hearing.

The committee convened to discuss Valeriano’s privilege speech last September 3, where he asked OVP to show proof that the financial beneficiaries of their programs were true.

“Ang pagtanggi ni Vice President Sara Duterte na sagutin ang mga tanong tungkol sa kanyang panukalang budget at ang kwestyonable niyang paggastos sa mga nagdaang OVP budgets na sinita ng Commission on Audit (COA) ang mga dahilan kung bakit tayo narito ngayon,” Valeriano said.

(Vice President Sara Duterte’s refusal to answer questions regarding her proposed budget and the questionable usage of past OVP budgets that have been flagged by the Commission on Audit are the reasons why we are here now.)

“She expressly rejected any question about the OVP budget even before those questions were put forward,” he recalled.

“Her claim of leaving it to the House to do what it thinks is right is just a ‘palusot’ (alibi), a smokescreen, a cover because she does not want to provide proof for the numbers she stated in her PowerPoint presentation,” he observed.

In his privilege speech, Valeriano questioned the proposed budget of the OVP for 2025 and the status of its aid programs reportedly limited within the National Capital Region (NCR) from 2023 to 2025.

According to the lawmaker, the OVP has stated in their 2025 budget proposal that there are 977,615 beneficiaries.

However, Valeriano said it cannot be ascertained if the beneficiaries are real people and not ghost beneficiaries.

“In their budget proposal, the OVP said they had 793 strategic partnerships in 2023. Where is the list of strategic partnerships and strategic partnership agreements?” he asked.

READ: OVP urged to prove financial aid beneficiaries are real 

Valeriano said the OVP has not yet provided a clear explanation for the issues which, according to him, seems to come from an expectation from the vice president that the lawmakers would take the contents of the OVP presentation as gospel truth.

“She expected us to take at face value the figures in her presentation when there is much reason for us here in Congress to doubt the veracity of the figures in the presentation,” he pointed out.

“We have not seen any paper trail or electronic trail that would serve as evidence of beneficiaries and partnership agreements,” he told fellow lawmakers.

“Kung totoong may mga beneficiaries, imposibleng hindi mabalitaan yan ng sinumang district congressman sa Metro Manila, lalo pa’t tinatayang dalawang milyong beneficiaries daw ang nakinabang sa loob ng dalawa’t kalahating taon at ang halaga ng pondo ay halos P4 billion para sa 2022, 2023 at 2024,” Valeriano noted.

(If it is true that there are beneficiaries, it’s impossible that no one among district representatives from Metro Manila would not hear of them, especially since around two million beneficiaries allegedly benefitted from the program in a span of two and a half years, and the fund for 2022, 2023, and 2024 is almost P4 billion.)

OVP and Duterte herself are under fire after budget hearings at the House revealed different issues with OVP’s confidential funds in 2022 and 2023, and anomalies in the delivery of projects under the Department of Education when she was still Education secretary.

House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe previously said Duterte may be held liable for graft if she cannot explain how funds were spent, particularly regarding items with adverse findings from the COA.

COA handed out a notice of disallowance against P73.2 million of the OVP’s P125 million CF for 2022.

Lawmakers believe this item should not be available in the first place, as the original budget crafted under former Vice President Leni Robredo did not have this allocation.

READ: VP Sara Duterte may be liable for graft – Dalipe 

Solons also blasted Duterte for skipping the budget deliberations of the OVP on Tuesday — the second round of discussions as talks were deferred last August 27.

READ: OVP’s 2025 budget talks deferred anew; panel terminates hearings 

Deliberations were deferred since Duterte refrained from directly answering lawmakers’ questions — replying by saying that she either forgoes the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format, or by insisting that they have already coordinated with the Commission on Audit regarding the notice of disallowance.