Sara Duterte —PHOTO FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MANILA, Philippines — Leaders of the House of Representatives said they understand Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel’s frustrations with Vice President Sara Duterte’s absence during budget deliberations, but they clarified that there is no impeachment complaint against her.
Deputy Speaker David Suarez said in a press briefing on Tuesday that he is also disappointed because Duterte or any official representative from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) did not show up to defend their proposed budget for 2025 and how past allocations were utilized.
During the latter part of Monday’s plenary session that lapsed into early Tuesdsay morning, Manuel said Duterte’s absence at the plenary debates was tantamount to betrayal of public trust as elected officials were obliged to answer questions concerning public interest.
“I totally understand where Congressman Manuel is coming from, the frustration that he has felt in the past few weeks with regards to the issues confronting the Office of the Vice President, with regards to their funds, fund management, and how it was utilized and much more yesterday that the OVP was scheduled for plenary discussions,” Suarez said.
“I mean, personally I’m disappointed. I mean I would have expected more. I mean this is such an important part in the budgetary process, and if you can see and if you have seen in the past few days, weeks, secretaries are here waiting for more than 10 hours just so that their department’s [budget] can be presented in plenary,” he added.
Assistant Majority Leader and Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, however, said they are not discussing any impeachment complaint against Duterte as the chamber’s focus is to finish the budget deliberations so that the General Appropriations Bill can be passed on time.
“Well impeaching the Vice President is not being talked about in the House, like what Cong. Jay-jay [Suarez] said earlier. We respect the Office of the Vice President and we are giving much leeway to our VP for her to…visit the House to defend their budget,” he said.
“So for the Majority, we are not talking about impeachment, we are not thinking about that. What’s important for us is to pass the budget on time, including the budget of the Office of the Vice President, and to show to the people that we will work to uplift their lives, and help people better themselves,” he added.
Manuel chided Duterte’s repeated absence at budget deliberations. He pointed out that after refusing to directly answer the lawmakers’ questions at the House committee on appropriations hearing last August 27, Duterte did not attend the subsequent hearing on September 10 and the plenary debates on Monday.
READ: Sara Duterte skipping budget debates ‘betrayal of public trust’ – solon
House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan also confirmed that the House was set to discuss the OVP’s proposed budget as early as 10:00 a.m. on Monday, but other agencies were asked to go ahead as the representative sent by the OVP did not have with him a letter of authority.
READ: Sara Duterte, OVP rep no-show yet at House plenary debate on budget
1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez agreed with Manuel’s views on Duterte’s actions being tantamount to betrayal of public trust.
“So when an official who is supposed to appear before the House and defend his or her budget, fails to do so, to an extent, betrayal po of public trust ‘yan. That is true. It is the betrayal of that duty, constitutional duty for his or her part in the budget process,” Gutierrez said.
“But with regards to impeachment … that is not on the table of the House, we are not talking about that, and you have to consider the degree of the public trust that has been betrayed,” he added.
The OVP was originally allocated a P2.037-billion budget under the National Expenditures Program, but House lawmakers decided to cut this down due to Duterte’s behavior.
During the budget deliberations, it was also revealed that some of the OVP’s programs suffered from low utilization, like in the case of Magnegosyo Ta Day where only 0.04 percent of funds, or P600,000 out of P150 million, were used as of December 2023.
READ: OVP hit for using only 0.4% of its Magnegosyo Ta Day funds