By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
VICE-PRESIDENT Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio on Tuesday pulled a no-show to the scheduled resumption of the congressional briefing on the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) spending plan, drawing the ire of lawmakers looking to question its proposed P2.02-billion budget.
In a letter, dated Sept. 10, Ms. Duterte-Carpio reiterated that her office will defer to the discretion of the House of Representatives, leaving it to the chamber to decide on the 2025 OVP budget. The letter was addressed to Speaker and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co, chairman of the appropriations committee.
“We defer entirely to the discretion and judgment of the Committee regarding our budget proposal for the upcoming year,” the letter read in part. Not one official from the OVP attended the congressional hearing.
In a statement, Mr. Co said the panel will recommend that some OVP funds for social services be transferred to line agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Education.
Citing the poor track record of the Vice President in handling public funds, as seen in the P125-million confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), Mr. Co reconsidered whether to grant the OVP P2 billion for next year.
“Amid all these funds misuse and apparent corruption, should we still entrust her with another P2 billion in 2025?” he said in a statement. “Now, should we give her P2 billion that she claims the OVP will use to help the poor? We should give this instead to the right agency.
Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel A. Manuel recommended to slash the OVP’s budget to P128 million from P2 billion, citing redundancies in the office’s proposed spending plan with other government agencies.
Teodoro A. Casiño, chairperson of political group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, told BusinessWorld before the budget briefing that “almost 80% of the OVP’s budget is for projects that are not under the purview of the office.”
The OVP has a P2-billion budget under the 2025 National Expenditure Program, an 8% increase from the P1.9 billion budget for this year.
SECOND CHANCE
The House appropriations committee, which oversees matters concerning the government’s spending, deferred the OVP’s budget in late August after she refused to answer the inquiries of congressmen directly, opting to instead repeat a canned response.
In the Aug. 27 hearing, the Vice President was asked by the panel to explain P73.3 million of the P125-million OVP CIF in 2022, flagged by state auditors due to the lack of documents supporting the spending.
In 2022, the OVP reportedly spent P125 million within 11 days back, generating controversy among the public. Ms. Duterte-Carpio did not answer questions about the secret funds, noting the 2025 OVP budget request did not include CIF funds.
“Even though we gave the Office of the Vice President a second chance… to explain the budget… she decided to boycott us,” Deputy Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. France L. Castro said in Filipino.
“I don’t recall any government agency or executive branch ever boycotting Congress during budget hearings and deliberations.”
The absence of OVP officials from the hearing was deemed as “unconstitutional” anew by Manila Rep. Bienvenido M. Abante, Jr., asserting Congress’ power of the purse.
“My goodness, without the presence of any of the officers and officials of the Vice President, we are facing a blank wall here,” he told congressmen in the same hearing.
“Being a collegial body, as given the mandate by the Constitution to brief and ask questions concerning the budget, the fact that the head of the agency is not here today, is… I think unconstitutional,” he added.
PARLIAMENTARY COURTESY
Party-list Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta argued the panel should instead exercise parliamentary courtesy to Ms. Duterte-Carpio, a congressional privilege traditionally extended to the Office of the President and the OVP.
“I have observed a tradition. The tradition is the two highest positions of government, namely the Office of the Vice President and the Office of the President, are not traditionally subjected to questions. I have observed this for so long a time,” Mr. Marcoleta said.
He sought to terminate the proceedings on the OVP budget, but his motion was rejected with 45 panel members voting against the motion. This outnumbered three votes in favor of the motion to end the OVP budget briefing.
Accountability should be prioritized over the House’s parliamentary courtesy to the country’s top executive officials, Hansley A. Juliano, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“The best recourse they have is to void or decide on their own what the appropriate budget for the OVP will be if Ms. Carpio will not cooperate,” he said.