A committee of the Philippine House of Representatives deferred the approval of the 2025 budget of Vice President Sara Duterte, reflecting not just the worsening rift between erstwhile allied political clans but also the clamor for more transparent and prudent spending of public funds.
In 2022 and 2023, the budget of Duterte’s office was quickly approved by legislators as part of the parliamentary courtesy provided to the country’s second-highest official. But this didn’t happen this year, not only because the Dutertes have openly called for the resignation of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., but also because Vice President Duterte refused to properly answer the questions of legislators during the budget hearing.
Duterte’s consistent reply to queries made about her proposed budget was this: “I would like to forgo the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format. I will leave it up to the House to decide on the budget submitted.”
During her presentation, she assured Congress that her office is cooperating with the ongoing audit of her use of confidential funds in December 2022. This item was flagged last year because she spent funds intended for national security matters in mere 11 days during the holiday season. This became too controversial which led Congress to realign all confidential funds of civilian agencies to law enforcement bodies. The public applauded this but former President Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president’s father, came out of retirement to castigate Congress and accused it of being the “most rotten institution” in the government.
During this year’s budget hearing, around 17 lawmakers submitted questions to Duterte but all got the same canned response from the vice president. At one point, Duterte quarreled with House members and even moved for the replacement of the presiding officer.
A young legislator expressed disappointment with Duterte’s behavior. “I would like to thank the vice president for showing her true colors to the House, and her lack of respect for checks and balances and the separation of powers, and accountability,” he said, as he moved for the deferment of Duterte’s budget, which was duly seconded and approved by the committee.
A Manila legislator accused Duterte of being “combative, evasive, disrespectful, and uncooperative.” He said the vice president “behaved like the entitled brat she truly is.”
“We have a Vice President who believes she is above the law, above Congress, and beyond the reach of the Constitution,” he added.
House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro reviewed the audit reports related to the use of confidential funds and raised several issues about it but got no proper response from Duterte. She suspected that Duterte’s aim was really to evade scrutiny about the alleged anomalous spending of the budget.
“It’s becoming apparent that Duterte was banking on the supposed veil of secrecy around Confidential Funds to hide her unlawful use of people’s money. This is a clear betrayal of public trust,” said Castro in a statement, hinting that Duterte could be subject to impeachment proceedings.
House members should have expected Duterte’s stubborn behavior when she attended the Senate budget hearing and engaged in a verbal spat with a member of the opposition. Asked about a book project in the budget proposal, Duterte felt slighted and hit back at the Senator. “This is an example of politicizing the budget hearing through the questions of a senator,” Duterte responded. Fortunately, Duterte was persuaded to provide a proper reply after being reminded of her responsibility to account for the use of public funds.
The deferment of Duterte’s budget indicated her diminished support base in the House of Representatives. She is scheduled to appear again on September 10 but the budget of her office could face substantial cuts if she continues to ignore questions from legislators. She should also face the prospect of being impeached as more information is released about how she really spent her confidential funds in 2022.
