Amid Issues, House of Representatives Hopes Duterte will Recognize Chamber’s Role in Budget Scrutiny
The House of Representatives insisted that they are “not embarrassing anyone” in the budget process following the statement of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Last February 5, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte was impeached by the lower chamber. More than two-thirds of the lawmakers in the lower chamber approved the ouster of the Vice President amid the issues on the use of the Confidential Funds of the offices she handled.
The Office of the Vice President spending P125 million within just 11 days in late 2022 did not sit well with many lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Prior to her impeachment, the lower chamber conducted a series of hearings to investigate the matter. In 2025, the OVP was given only P700 million from its P2 billion budget request.
Recently, during the press conference for the 2025 Pasidungog of her officer, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that the OVP will request P733 million as budget for 2026. She stressed that the amount is not far from the budget that was granted to her office this year and the difference is for the finlation.
When asked why she did not seek a higher budget, the Vice President claimed that she does not expect that her office will be given a bigger budget. She stressed that she is not an ally of the Marcos administration.
“Dahil inaasahan ko naman na hindi ibibigay ‘yung budget ng Office of the Vice President dahil nga hindi naman kami ka-alyado ng administrasyon. At nakita na natin ‘yun noong nakaraang taon, siyempre kung hindi ka sumusunod, hindi ka ka-alyado, hindi ka mabibigyan ng pondo,” she said.
Furthermore, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that she does not want the personnel of the OVP allegedly being humiliated whenever they would attend a budget process at the House of Representatives or the Senate.
“Ayaw kung napapahiya at pinapahiya ‘yung mga ibang personnel ng Office of the Vice President lalong-lalo na kapag nandun na sila sa House of Representatives or sa Senate na kaharap ‘yung ating mga miyembro ng Kongreso,” Duterte said.
Recently, the House of Representatives spoke which seem to be a response to the remarks of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a report on PhilStar, Princess Abante, the spokesperson of the lower chamber, said they will wait and see if the Vice President will recognize the role of the House in the budget process and respect the process in the approval of the fund.
Abante expressed the chamber’s hope that Duterte will recognize the responsibility of the House in the budget scrutiny on how the funds granted to an office were used. Based on the report, she stressed that the chamber is not embarrassing anyone.
“The House of Representatives is not embarrassing anyone in the budget process… No public shaming here. What’s important is to give the proper answer based on documents they have,” she said.
During her Pasidungog press con, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte gave an update about the tree planting project of the OVP. She also admitted that several programs were no longer catered by the budget given to their office in 2025.