New House probe wants to tell people ‘don’t vote for Sara in 2028’ – VP

Vice President Sara Duterte —File photo from House of Representatives

MANILA, Philippines — The new House of Representatives hearing on the use of the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) just intends to dissuade people from voting for the vice president in 2028.

Vice President Sara Duterte made the statement on Wednesday as she showed up at the House committee on good government and public accountability hearing.

Duterte said the topic of the discussion — Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano’s privilege speech last September 3 — is aimed at discrediting her name and preventing future political contests.

“What we are witnessing now is no ordinary legislative inquiry. This exercise is a well-funded and coordinated political attack,” she told lawmakers.

“This much is evident from the very words of the privilege speech that prompted this inquiry – a speech that simply meant to say, ‘Do not vote for Sara in 2028,’” the vice president said.

“It is clear to me that this inquiry is not about misused funds, accountability, or governance. Instead, it is only aimed at discrediting my name and my office to prevent future political contests,” she insisted.

The House panel was convened to discuss Valeriano’s privilege speech, wherein he asked the OVP to show proof that its socioeconomic programs were delivered.

According to Valeriano, the socioeconomic programs were reportedly limited within the National Capital Region (NCR) from 2023 to 2025 with 977,615 beneficiaries.

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

READ: OVP urged to prove financial aid beneficiaries are real 

Duterte maintained that she decided to attend the hearing as a representative of the OVP because they believe they have done nothing wrong — adding that accusations of wrongdoing and other issues should be proven first in the courts.

“Simply because we have not done anything wrong… There is no misuse of funds. If there are audit findings, we shall gladly respond to them for the Commission on Audit. And if there are legitimate cases to be filed, then, we shall gladly respond to them before the appropriate courts,” Duterte said.

“In relation to this, may I just say that I take notice of the opening speeches and nasabi doon (it was said there), there is a determination of misfeasance, nonfeasance and malfeasance, and those are cases that should properly be taken in the courts of law,” she added.

OVP and Duterte are being questioned on how their budget was used, as past hearings of the House committee on appropriations revealed different issues, like the confidential funds’ usage in 2022 and 2023.

The Commission on Audit (COA) gave a notice of disallowance against P73.2 million of the OVP’s P125 million CF for 2022.

Several lawmakers said 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.

During the second hearing, it was revealed that only 0.04 percent of OVP’s P150 million budget for “Magnegosyo Ta Day” was utilized.

Magnegosyo Ta Day is an OVP program that supposedly aims to free “individuals, groups and sectors” from poverty “by integrating them into the mainstream economy.”

READ: OVP hit for using only 0.4% of its Magnegosyo Ta Day funds 

According to the COA representative, the OVP only spent P600,000 of the P1.5 million allocated for this program.