Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s behavior may force Congress to decide against granting her office an additional budget next year, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Monday.
Pimentel was reacting to Duterte’s kill remark against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., his wife Liza, and cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“This latest development can affect the budget of the OVP (Office of the President). We may decide that with her behavior, she and her office do not deserve more budget,” Pimentel said in a message to reporters.
Asked if he himself would block any move to add more funding for the OVP, Pimentel replied, “(I) will listen first to the reasoning behind the proposal.”
Pending before the Senate is the P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025, which includes the proposed P733.1 million budget for the OVP.
The budget proposal for the OVP was down from Malacanang’s original request of P2.03 billion, which was slashed by P1.3 billion in the House of Representatives.
The budget cut was later approved by the Senate committee on finance and adopted in the plenary during the period of interpellations, but still subject to changes during the period of amendments.
Duterte’s known allies in the Senate — Sens. Christopher “Bong: Go and Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa — have already indicated their intention to either move to increase the approved budget or restore the original funding proposal for the OVP.
In an online press conference on Saturday, Duterte revealed her plan to have the President, his wife, and Romualdez assassinated if she gets killed.
“I already talked to someone. I told that person: ‘If they kill me, kill Bongbong Marcos, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez.’ No joke, no joke. I’ve left instructions,” Duterte said in Filipino during the online press conference.
Pimentel wants to know the identity of the person who was ordered to execute the assassination plot.
“Threats to the lives of high government officials and their family members must be thoroughly investigated, especially by the NBI,” he said, referring to the National Bureau of Investigation which has started its own probe.
“Also, we need to get the identity of that person that VP talked to, who gave her that assurance that he can carry out the assassinations. Who is that person?” Pimentel asked.