Solons blast Sara for accusing House of having scripted hearings

Vice President Sara Duterte holds her self-authored book “Isang Kaibigan” which drew flak when she tried to defend the proposed P10 million budget for its printing and distribution. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Those who respond to questions by repeatedly reading lines are the ones using a script, lawmakers said in reply to Vice President Sara Duterte’s accusations that budget hearings are following a preordained sequence.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, members of the House of Representatives’ Young Guns movement — La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V, Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre, and 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez — were asked about the Vice President’s latest insinuations that the deliberations on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) proposed 2025 budget were scripted.

Ortega disputed this, saying instead that he knows someone who has a script, and that person read the answers repeatedly.

“Meron po akong nakitang may script, paulit-ulit po ‘yong sagot niya, binabasa niya ‘yong sagot niya, pero kami po wala po kaming script, wala naman pong scenario, wala naman pong gano’n.  Pero lahat ng sagot, binabasa ‘yong script,” Ortega said.

(I saw a script, the answers were repeatedly read, but for us we do not have any script, no scenario of whatsoever.  But (for her), all of the answers were made by reading a script.)

Acidre meanwhile said it is a convenient excuse for Duterte to say that the House follows a script, when it is her who made repeated responses and had a supposedly scripted television interview.

During the House committee on appropriations hearing on OVP’s proposed 2025 budget last August 27, Duterte answered lawmakers’ questions by only 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 (COA) regarding the notice of disallowance.

“It’s so convenient to say that we have a script […] we come from different persuasions, even different different districts, different perspectives.  This script writer must be so good that he was able to weave it into a single approach.  But just like what Cong. Pao (Ortega) said, there was only one reading a script.  She was reading it even if it contained three lines only,” Acidre said.

“I honestly take offense that the Vice President has chosen to make all these accusations over the media, over an obviously scripted television interview? Because if she has a lot to say, why not say these things when she is present in Congress?” he added.

Acidre also asked that if the topic is about a script, then the same could be said for Duterte’s television interviews that were released in an allegedly curated manner.

“They are looking for a script, our question is why a single television interview that is featuring the same subject, the same interviewer, the same set, was extended to three days and was purposely released in sync with the proceedings in Congress?” Acidre said.

“May be the people know who really has a script,” he added.

The OVP has released three videos of Duterte being interviewed — one since Monday — where she addressed issues relating to her office’s proposed budget and the seeming clash with Congress.

In the Wednesday video, Duterte claimed that the budget hearing at the House committee on appropriations was scripted, as lawmakers had prepared audio-visual presentations and that there was supposedly a plan to attack her.

“In the budget hearing last August 27, you saw that they had prepared a PowerPoint presentation, there is an audiovisual presentation, they had scripts ready, and one of the congresswoman even said that ‘I do not have time to read, this is long, I did not read it letter per letter,’” Duterte said, referring to Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro.

“We saw them say ‘Let’s stick to our plan. Let us attack her.  The questions will not be related to the OVP proposed 2025 budget, but all of these are related to confidential funds’,” the Vice President added.

This was however not the first time that Duterte claimed a script was being used by House members,  Last August 27, Duterte was asked by 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez as to why the OVP no longer spent its confidential funds (CF) for the fourth quarter of 2023.

According to the Vice President, they no longer used the CF after Congress removed the secret funds for the then-proposed 2024 budget, to show that they can survive without it.

Duterte also said that they saw a script or a narrative where the CF would be used to attack her office.

READ: Quimbo to VP Sara: Defending your budget was most difficult thing I did 

Due to Duterte’s refusal to answer questions directly, the committee decided to defer deliberations on its budget, scheduling another round of discussions on September 10.  However, neither Duterte nor any OVP representative appeared before the second round, prompting the panel to defer deliberations again.