OVP denies lawmakers waited 17 hours for House’s OVP budget debates

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Tuesday denied that it made the House of Representatives wait for 17 hours during their proposed 2025 budget plenary debates, insisting that it informed the body ahead of time that Vice President Sara Duterte or her representatives won’t be attending.

The OVP even went as far as tagging as “fake news” reports quoting Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, who said that Duterte and her office’s representatives made them wait for 17 hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. during the budget plenary debates on Monday.

READ: Sara Duterte skipping budget debates ‘betrayal of public trust’ – solon

The OVP in making the pronouncement cited a letter dated Sept. 11 and addressed to Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong where Duterte stated that the OVP “leaves the deliberation” of its budget proposal “entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives.”

“As early as September 16, 2024—the date when the letter was formally received by Cong. Zia Alonto Adiong’s office—the budget sponsor, Cong. Adiong himself already knew that VPSD ‘leaves the deliberation’ of the OVP budget proposal in the plenary ‘entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives’ as stated in the last paragraph of her letter,” the OVP explained in a statement.

“The received date by Cong. Adiong’s office is clearly indicated at the lower right portion of the letter,” it added.

However, the said letter did not actually categorically state whether Duterte will be attending the plenary debates or not. Reporters covering the OVP tried to confirm her attendance several times as soon as the letter was made public, but received no categorical response.

The House has deferred the OVP plenary debate on Wednesday, Sept. 25, but it still remains unclear whether Duterte or OVP representatives will attend or not.

READ: House panel slashes VP Duterte’s budget by over 60%

Reporters have once again sought confirmation from the OVP about Duterte and her representatives’ attendance but have yet to receive a response as of posting.

Duterte last attended House deliberations on her office’s proposed budget on August 27, where she refused to directly answer lawmakers’ queries and—similar to the letter the OVP released—mostly said that the OVP forgoes the opportunity to defend its budget as it leaves the decision to the House.