Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr. Speaks on Claim of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte
MARCOS JR. – The Philippine President reacted to the claim of Vice President Sara Duterte that lawmakers are politicizing the budget deliberations for the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
In both chambers of the legislative body of the government, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte had heated exchange of remarks with some members during the deliberation of the 2025 budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President.
According to the budget department, the Office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte is seeking for a P2 billion budget for 2025. There is zero confidential funds in the said budget proposal.
However, during a Senate hearing on the budget deliberation for the OVP’s fund proposal, Senator Risa Hontiveros and Vice Pres. Sara Duterte had a heated exchange of statements. It was after the lawmaker noticed that the OVP has similar assistance programs with some other government agencies.
Sen. Hontiveros said she will make a motion to re-allocate the said assistance program budget to the relevant agencies. The lawmaker also asked about the P10 million alloted for the distribution of the book authored by VP Sara Duterte.
Duterte accused Hontiveros of politicizing allegedly like the government agencies who turned down the referrals from the OVP with regards to the assistance programs. According to her, it is because the book has her name and the parents of the children who will get it can vote.
Duterte and Hontiveros had a heated exchange over “politicizing”. During the hearing of the House of Representatives on the OVP budget deliberation, the Vice President also had a heated exchange with ACT Teachers Partylist Representative France Castro.
Recently, Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr. reacted to the claim of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte that there is politicizing in the budget deliberations for the OVP. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, the Chief Executive denied the claim of the Vice President.
Marcos Jr. stressed that it is a budget hearing and all agencies of the government are bound to undergo it. He emphasized that “the process is well established” and has nothing to do with politics.
“This is a budget hearing… This is something that every single government agency has to do... We do it every year, we do it with the same department,” Marcos Jr. said.
Previously, Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr. also reacted to Vice Pres. Sara Duterte apologizing to the members of the KOJC (Kingdom of Jesus Christ). She apologized to the members for seeking support for Marcos during the 2022 Elections.
it is sara duterte who’s politicizing the budget hearing.