Solon twits VP over impeachment waste of funds remark

Vice President Sara Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES)

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte is in no position to say that the impeachment proceedings against her will just be a waste of public funds, as Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre reminded the second-highest elected official that it is not lawmakers who spent P125 million in just nine days.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, Acidre and Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman were asked about Duterte’s recent statements against possible impeachment proceedings against her — that her critics in the House will just waste funds and that this is just a cover up for the administration’s shortcomings.

“Kung pagwawaldas lang din eh hindi siguro ang Bise Presidente ang tamang tao na mag-correct ng pagwawaldas, hindi ho kami ang nakaubos ng P125 million in eight days or nine days,” Acidre told reporters at the Batasang Pambansa complex.

(If it is about wasting funds, maybe the Vice President is not the right person to talk on the issue, we are not the ones who spent P125 million in eight days or nine days.)

“But that being the case ‘no, I don’t think that procedures such as the impeachment are actually pagwawaldas (wastage of funds) in a sense,” he added.

The P125 million that Acidre was referring to is the confidential funds (CF) transferred to Duterte’s Office of the Vice President (OVP) last December 2022.

READ: VP accused of spending P125 million in confidential funds in 19 days

Initially, Duterte’s critic,s like ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro claimed that Duterte spent the entire P125 million in 19 days.

The Commission on Audit (COA), however, admitted last September 2023, through budget sponsor and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo, that the CF was spent in just 11 days.

The confidential fund allocation and spending of Duterte’s offices were scrutinized because of this, as several lawmakers pointed out that OVP should not have gotten any CF as these items were not present in the original budget crafted during the term of former vice president Leni Robredo.

Last November 27, Duterte said that impeachment would just lead to the government wasting funds, just to divert attention from the administration’s supposedly unfulfilled promises.

“They can always try na mag-impeachment, gumastos, magwaldas ng pera ng gobyerno para i-impeach ang vice president […] Kung ‘yan ba naman ang gusto nila, magwaldas nang magwaldas ng pera at pagtakpan nang pagtakpan ang kakulangan at pagsisinungaling ng administrasyon para lang hindi mapansin nga mga tao na maraming pangako ang napako,” Duterte said.

(They can always try  impeachment, waste funds of the government to impeach the vice president […] That’s what they want, to spend and waste funds so that they can cover for the shortcomings, lies, so that the people would not notice their unfulfilled promises.)

But Acidre believes checks and balances are important in a democratic society — noting that the 1987 Constitution allows these mechanisms.

Furthermore, the lawmaker said funds spent for the extraction of accountability will be worth it.

Roman meanwhile said that it would be better if the Vice President would just let the House do its work.

“So the impeachment processes have happened even in the past, with (former Supreme Court Chief) Justice (Renato) Corona at kay President Erap (Joseph Estrada).  Many things happened, are we to say that it was also a waste of public funds?” she asked.

“So just let us do our work and we will see, let the truth prevail,” she added.

On Monday afternoon, civil society groups’ representatives flocked to the House to file an impeachment complaint against Duterte.

According to former senator Leila de Lima, who accompanied the complainants, among the articles of impeachment cited were Duterte’s alleged confidential fund (CF) misuse, threats to ranking government officials, and her supposed involvement in extrajudicial killings when she was Davao City mayor.

The complaint was endorsed by Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña.