Because no official from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) showed up again for budget discussions at the House of Representatives, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio vowed to push for a significant reduction of the agency’s budget – from P902 million to just P198 million.
Tinio, in his manifestation during Thursday’s session, said that Vice President Sara Duterte’s insistence on not showing up or sending an undersecretary-level official to assist the budget sponsor is an indication that the OVP is not interested in defending their proposed allocation for 2026.
According to Tinio, the move to ask for Duterte’s presence is not about politics, but rather to raise questions and concerns about allocations in OVP – which are also asked of other agencies. And because of this, Tinio said he will move to just give the OVP its proposed personal services (PS) or the allocation for salaries.
‘Again, the point of these discussions is not for politicking; our goal here is to ask legitimate questions, points which we also raised with other agencies. But with this treatment – again, we condemn the disrespect shown by the Vice President to the people, she is seeking a bigger budget for 2026 but the agency chose not to show up to stand and explain their allocation,’ Tinio said in English.
‘That’s why at the proper time Mr. Speaker, I will move to reduce the budget of the [OVP] for 2026, they are asking for a total of P902.895 million for 2026, I will move that it be cut only to the PS component – only the salaries of its personnel. So I will move that the budget be reduced merely to the PS of P198.8 million, at the proper time, since the head of office herself has not deemed it necessary to defend the budget proposal of her office,’ he added.
Tinio said the new figure is based on the belief that OVP personnel are good, but are unlucky to have Duterte as their head of office.
‘Why so? Because the government is obligated, as they remain government employees, to allocate for their salaries, and we also considered the welfare of our OVP employees, we believe that they are honest public servants but they are dragged into the issue because of their head of office’s behavior,’ he added.
Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said that because of Duterte’s actions, she initially thought of proposing to cut OVP’s budget to zero, but she said thinking of the employees prompted her to just push for a budget cut.
‘If she can afford to be showing herself up to the Senate, including being there and applauding the former Senate president in his privilege speech [.] why can she not spare a few moments of her time attending to her official function as Vice President, to defend the budget of her office? Enough is enough, enough of her brattiness,’ de Lima said.
‘So I rise today to manifest my extreme displeasure about the behavior of our Vice President. And in due time, I will move for the decrease in the budget of the [OVP]. I actually intended initially to move for zero budget for the [OVP] [.] but after some mulling, after some reflection, and out of courtesy also and consideration to the personnel and staff of the [OVP], I’m just now thinking of moving for the decrease,’ she added.
De Lima, meanwhile, said that her proposal may be to retain OVP’s PS and the maintenance and other operating expenses.
Before Tinio and de Lima’s manifestations, the proposed OVP budget was once again brought up, as the House seeks to end debates on House Bill (HB) No. 4058 or the General Appropriations Bill (GAB). However, budget sponsor and Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez admitted that no one from the OVP is present to assist him.
Instead, Alvarez showed three letters from Duterte – first, assigning staffers like Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio and others to attend in her behalf; second, notifying the House committee on appropriations that Ortonio has been designated as officer-in-charge due to the leave of absence of Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez; and a set of demands for her appearance at the House plenary.
Part of Duterte’s demands is for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to also show up at the House to defend the Office of the President’s budget.
Best response possible
House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Caloocan City 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice, meanwhil,e believes that not giving a response to Duterte’s hateful messages may be the best response possible.
‘The letter of Vice President Sara Duterte with all due respect reeks of hate and impropriety, considering that the subject matter is simply the proposed budget of her office. Instead of addressing the issue with sobriety and professionalism, the letter reflects the lingering bad blood between her and the House, particularly the 19th Congress,’ Erice said.
‘Our task is to serve the people, not to be distracted by personal grievances or political animosities. The best way forward is simply to ignore the letter, and proceed with the more important task at hand – the approval of the national budget. To ignore the letter and treat it as unimportant is in fact the most professional and dignified way of addressing this matter,’ he added.
OVP’s budget was originally scheduled to be discussed last Tuesday, but it was deferred to Wednesday, due to the absence of an undersecretary-level official to assist the budget sponsor.
This is not the first time that the OVP sent an official that is not of an undersecretary level. Last September 12, at the initial budget hearing before the House committee on appropriations, the panel was forced to reschedule the discussions as Ortonio was the highest-ranked official that Duterte sent.
Budget sponsor and Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez said that Vice President Duterte will eventually show up on September 16 – a promise that she fulfilled.
During the committee hearing, both the Minority and the Majority accorded parliamentary courtesy to Duterte, sparing her from questions by the panel’s members. It was Erice who moved to give Duterte parliamentary courtesy.
Duterte however, waived the parliamentary courtesy given, answering some questions from the Minority solons.
This allowed ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co to raise questions regarding low obligation rates and the disallowed OVP confidential funds.