MANILA Rep. Joel Chua yesterday slammed Vice President Sara Duterte for allegedly behaving “like the entitled brat she truly is” when she “tried to take over and dictate” to the subcommittee of the House appropriations panel how to conduct the deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President.
“By her actions, decorum, and demeanor, the Vice President showed her true dark colors in her refusal to respect the constitutional power of Congress about the budget and oversight authority on the operations of all government agencies,” Chua said after the Committee on Appropriations deferred the deliberations on the OVP’s P2.037 billion proposed budget to September 10.
Tension rose during the House’s budget hearing last Tuesday after Duterte stonewalled questions on the notice of disallowance that the Commission on Audit (COA) has issued to the OVP for its use of confidential funds in 2022, saying it is up to the House to decide on her office’s budget proposal.
A combative Duterte, a lawyer, was told to respect the panel after she repeatedly questioned the rulings of presiding chair Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo and the House Rules, and even tried to raise motions despite not being a member of the chamber.
At one point, the Vice President even requested that the presiding chair be replaced, prompting Quimbo, a senior vice chair of the panel, to tell the Vice President that she does not have such powers.
Quimbo also had to remind the Vice President that she has to answer the questions of House members and observe decorum when responding to lawmakers, who have the power of the purse as enshrined under the Constitution.
The Vice President’s spokesman Michael Poa yesterday said the OVP will get in touch with the office of Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto-Adiong, the House sponsor of the OVP budget, to brief him on their office’s budget request.
Poa said this was agreed upon during a brief conversation between Adiong and the Vice President right after the budget hearing.
“Kung kailan ang magiging pag-uusap between the OVP and Cong. Adiong’s office, wala pa po tayong maisasagot sa ngayon (We don’t have an answer yet when the OVP and Adiong’s office will meet),” he said.
Chua said the Vice President was not only combative but was also “evasive, disrespectful, and uncooperative.”
“We have a Vice President who believes she is above the law, above Congress, and beyond the reach of the Constitution,” he said.
At the same time, Chua commended Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing “on her clear, precise, and enlightening appreciation of the COA findings on how the OVP spent confidential funds.”
“Congresswoman Suansing expertly dissected and showed how OVP confidential funds were disallowed, why, and the contexts. For every P10 in confidential funds the OVP spent, P6 were not spent right,” Chua said.
It was Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) who raised the issue of the COA’s issuance of an ND on the OVP’s P73.2 million expenditure, which is part of its P125 million confidential fund for 2022.
COA issued the ND following the OVP’s “non-submission of documents evidencing the success of information-gathering and/or surveillance activities to support acknowledgment receipts for payments of rewards in cash, various goods and medicines” that totaled to P69.7 million.
The audit agency said the amount is comprised of P10 million for reward payments, P34.8 million for payments of rewards through various goods, and P24.9 million for the payment of rewards through medicines.
The rest of the P73.2 million, worth P3.5 million, covered payments for tables, chairs, desktop computers and printers “without specifying that they were intended for the confidential operations/activities undertaken by the OVP,” which COA said is non-compliant with the requirements.
The COA has directed Duterte and Special Disbursing Officer Gina F. Acosta and Chief Accountant Julieta L. Villadelrey of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) “to settle immediately the said disallowance.”
It said Duterte is liable for approving the transaction, including the utilization of the cash advance, Acosta for acting as the payee and disbursing the cash advance, and Villadelrey for certifying that the supporting documents were complete and proper.
Meanwhile, Senate President Francis Escudero yesterday said Duterte’s attitude during the House deliberation on her office’s budget request showed she is not used to being questioned or opposed.
“My take on it, dahil pinanood ko kahapon (Tuesday), tila hindi sang-ayon at sanay si Vice President Duterte na tinatanong siya at hindi siya sinasang-ayunan (My take on it, because I watched it, is that it seems that the Vice President is not in favor or is not used to being questioned or being opposed),” Escudero said.
He added that Duterte is obviously not “a friend” of the members of the House, taking a swipe at the Vice President’s children’s book “Isang Kaibigan” which became a subject of heated exchange between the former education secretary and Sen. Risa Hontiveros during last week’s Senate hearing also on the OVP budget. — With Raymond Africa
