VICE President Sara Duterte should just resign if she is no longer interested in performing her duties and responsibilities, which includes attending the plenary deliberations on her office’s proposed budget for 2025, an administration lawmaker said yesterday.

Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol) issued the statement after Duterte skipped the plenary deliberations on the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) proposed P2.037 billion budget last Monday, which prompted the House to defer the deliberations until today.

“Kung hindi na po siya interesado sa kanya pong (If she’s no longer interested in her) duties and functions as the Vice President, we can ask the Vice President to step down,” Bongalon told a press conference

For his part, Rep. Raoul Manuel (PL, Kabataan) told the plenary budget deliberations in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that Duterte’s act to attend the plenary discussion is tantamount to “betrayal of public trust.”

Betrayal of public trust is among the grounds for impeaching a public official.

Bongalon said House members have been waiting since Monday morning for the Vice President to attend the plenary session to assist Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, the sponsor of the OVP budget, in defending questions from lawmakers.

However, instead of appearing, he said photos and videos of Duterte vacationing on Calaguas Island last weekend circulated online.

Bongalon said it only shows that the Vice President really has no intention to attend the budget floor deliberations.

“So ano ibig sabihin nito? Hindi na siya interesado at mas pinili niyang pumunta sa beach resort kaysa dumalo sa pagdinig ng kanyang budget (So what does this mean? She’s no longer interested, and she chose to go to a beach resort instead of attending the hearing on her office’s budget). It’s up to the Filipino people to judge the Vice President),” he said.

“Kung meron siyang intensyon, dapat Sunday pa lang nasa Manila na siya o kaya nakipag-communicate sa office ni Cong. Adiong para mag-briefing at mapaghandaan ang mga katanungan (If she had an intention to attend, she should have been here in Manila by Sunday or she should have communicated with Cong. Adiong to set a briefing and prepare for the questions),” he added.

In a September 11 letter to Adiong, the Vice President reiterated her stand that she will no longer defend her office’s proposed budget for 2025, stressing that lawmakers can do whatever they want with it.

The OVP, in statement, said the Vice President did not make lawmakers wait for her because she informed them that she has no intention to participate as early as September 11.

“Please take note that as early as September 16, 2024 — the date when the letter was formally received by Cong. Adiong’s office — the budget sponsor, Cong. Adiong 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 said. 

The House Committee on Appropriations earlier slashed the OVP’s proposed P2.037 billion budget by a whopping 63.8 percent, approving only P733.198 million after Duterte refused to answer questions from lawmakers related to how her office spent its P2.3 billion allocation in 2023.

Lawmakers have realigned P1.29 billion from the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget to programs under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH) to help indigents.

The deliberations on the OVP’s proposed budget was first deferred last August 27 when tensions flared after Duterte stonewalled questions on the findings of the Commission on Audit (CPOA), which has issued a notice of disallowance to the OVP for its use of P73 million confidential funds in 2022 which was part of its P125 million CF.

While Duterte did not attend the resumption of the budget hearing last September 10, she attended last Wednesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on how the OVP has been spending its annual allocations.

The Vice President, however, declined to participate in the hearing by refusing to take an oath as a resource person, declining to answer lawmakers’ questions and leaving shortly after delivering a statement assailing the investigation.

“In fairness, consistent naman po siya — hindi siya dumalo nung committee on appropriations budget hearings, at pati sa plenary ngayon (she has been consistent — she did not attend the budget hearings of the committee on appropriations and this time, the plenary deliberations). This shows she’s not interested in her duties and functions as Vice President,” Bongalon said.

The House, which is set to approve today the Executive’s P3.562 trillion proposed national budget for 2025, suspended the deliberations on the OVP’s budget at around 2:44 a.m.

Pangasinan Rep. Marlyn Primicias Agabas brought the issue to the floor being presided by Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., stating that despite multiple efforts to communicate with the OVP, no staff members were present to assist Adiong.

“We have disposed of all the items on the agenda today except for one, the budget of the office of the OVP, and we have just checked the holding room of the OVP in the House of Representatives premises and there are no persons present,” Agabas said.

Manuel expressed his frustration during the session, highlighting the Vice President’s continuous disregard for the House’s power of the purse.

“Mr. Speaker, we actually waited for 17 hours since 10 a.m. of September 23 up until mag-alas tres na po ngayon (it’s now almost 3 a.m.), September 24,” he said.

Manuel said this is not the first time that VP Duterte acted disrespectfully toward the House of Representatives, as she has been accused of evasiveness and a lack of transparency regarding the OVP’s expenditures as well as during her tenure as education secretary.

“Mr. Speaker, to end, this is a clear betrayal of public trust, as every elected official is accountable to the electorate, and thus is obliged to answer any question that concerns public interest,” Manuel said, stressing that public officials should not treat the budget as a “personal entitlement.”

“Parang ang gustong iparamdam sa mga Pilipino ay bahala na kayo kung ibibigay ninyo o hindi ang hinihingi ko (It’s like telling the Filipinos that it’s up to them of they’ll give her the budget or not),” he said.

“Pero pag ayaw niyo ibigay, masama kayo. Mr. Speaker (But if you don’t give it, you’re the antagonist, Mr. Speaker). The OVP has continued to characterize the questions of the Filipino people regarding their past questionable expenditures as political attacks and has not taken questions seriously,” he added.

NO IMPEACHMENT

Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (PL, 1-Rider) agreed that Vice President Sara Duterte’s refusal to attend the plenary deliberations could be seen as a betrayal of public trust.

Gutierrez however clarified that the House of Representatives is not considering any impeachment proceeding against the Vice President, for now.

“Kapag tayo po ay bumoboto (When we vote), we, as the public repose our trust and confidence that the official will uphold his or her constitutionally mandated duties,” he said. “So, when an official who is supposed to appear before the House and defend his or her budget fails to do so, to an extent, that is betrayal of public trust. That is true. It is the betrayal of the duty, the constitutional duty for his or her part in the budget process.”

Gutierrez emphasized that while Duterte’s absence is concerning, it does not automatically warrant an impeachment.

“But just to be purely technical, it is, in a way, a betrayal of public trust. Whether it would amount to impeachment, that’s far from the case. Impeachment is not something we are discussing in the House,” he said.

Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun also downplayed any impeachment talk, saying that it is not on the agenda of the House.

“Well, hindi naman kasi napag-uusapan dito sa House ‘yung pag-impeach sa Vice President (the possibility of impeaching the Vice President is not being discussed),” he said.

REENACTED BUDGET

Bongalon said that while the Vice President’s absence delays the approval of the proposed 2025 budget, it should not affect the entire national budget.

Konghun said the House would not wait for the Vice President to show up and would approve the budget with or without her.

“Kung ang tingin ng ating Vice President e kaya niyang isabotahe ‘yong pagpasa ng budget ng ating pamahalaan for 2025, hindi po papayagan ng (If our Vice President thinks she can sabotahe the passage of the 2025 budget, we’ll not allow it),” he said.

Deputy Speaker David Suarez of Quezon brushed aside the prospects of having a reenacted budget for 2025 as Bongalon said the House will not allow the OVP’s budget to hold hostage the entire 2025 national budget.

“Kung ito po ay may delay at hindi po maipasa sa tamang oras, (If this gets delayed, it’ll not be passed on time). The negative impact is that we will have a re-enacted budget,” he said.

He assured the public, though, that the House would not allow the reenactment of this year’s budget.

“Definitely we will not allow that because masa-sacrifice po ‘yong (it will sacrifice) the entirety of the budget of the Republic of the Philippines,” Bongalon said.

La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the Vice President is being paid by taxpayers partly to fulfill her obligations during the budget enactment process.

“May trabaho po sila, may obligasyon sila dito at bayad sila ng taumbayan para dumating dito at sagutin ang mga tanong para po mas maging efficient ang proposal nila for the next year. So ganoon lang po kasimple (They have a job to do, an obligation and they’re being paid by the people to come here and answer questions so that their proposal will be efficient next year. It’s that simple),” he said.