No official from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) showed up again for the plenary debates at the House of Representatives, with Vice President Sara Duterte demanding two conditions for her to show up before the chamber.
During the plenary session on Thursday, 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 budget.
‘Thirdly, we still have another letter addressed to our chair, (Nueva Ecija Rep.) Mikaela Angela Suansing [.] In view of these letters Mr. Speaker, we have given the Office of the Vice President utmost respect in the procedures of this Congress in order to deliberate on the budget of the OVP,’ Alvarez said.
‘Mr. Speaker, there’s no one from the Office of the Vice President, and I’m prepared to stand alone here, and to stand for the budget of the OVP,’ he added.
Alvarez also read the letter.
‘It has come to my attention that the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget of P902.895 million has been deferred due to the committee’s insistence that I attend the plenary deliberations. I am prepared to attend, however, I am seeking the following: 1. The House of Representatives demand the attendance of President Marcos for the P27.3 billion budget deliberation of the Office of the President,’ Duterte said, as relayed by Alvarez.
‘Alternatively, I will attend if the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability will produce before the plenary schedule, a Department of Justice (DO) document confirming that the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) for the following OVP personnel has been lifted: Atty. Zuleika Lopez, Mr. Lemuel Ortonio, Atty. Rosalynne Sanchez, Atty. Sunshine Charry Fajarda, Ms. Gina Acosta, Ms. Julieta Villadelrey, Mr. Edward Fajarda,’ she 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.
Proposed allocation
On Wednesday, Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan asked whether Vice President Sara Duterte is present to defend the agency’s proposed allocation for 2026. Deputy Speaker Yevgeny Emano, who was presiding over the session, asked Deputy Majority Leader and Mindoro 1st District Rep. Arnan Panaligan to respond.
Panaligan then named the officials sent by OVP, which includes Ortonio. After this response from the Panaligan, Libanan asked if the requirement of the House is to have either the head of agency or the second-in-command – an undersecretary-level official – assist the budget sponsor in defending the proposed budget.
Panaligan confirmed this, before adding that plenary debates on the OVP budget was actually scheduled for Tuesday, but it was rescheduled to Wednesday because of the same issue.
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. 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.
Parliamentary courtesy for OVP has been a hot topic as the Minority through Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice joined the Majority in vowing to maintain this tradition for high-ranking officials.
Tinio objected to this, saying that while this is a tradition, current times call for the waiving of these parliamentary courtesy. The lawmaker also challenged Duterte to waive this courtesy so that she can answer questions related to her offices’ budget.
According to Tinio, Duterte has to answer several important questions – like who is Mary Grace Piattos, the name that signed off several acknowledgement receipts of the OVP confidential fund expenditures.
Piattos, along with other weird names, were not found inside the Philippine Statistics Authority database for live birth, marriage, and death registry.