Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Questioned over Confidential Funds Spending in 2022
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President had a heated exchange with ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo.
The Senate and the House of Representatives’ finance committees are currently conducting hearings for the deliberations of the 2025 budget proposals of the different offices and agencies of the government. The budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President is one of those scrutinized by the lawmakers.
For 2025, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is requesting for a Php 2 billion budget from the government. The budget department previously said that the OVP’s budget proposal does not anymore includes Confidential Funds.
In 2023, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte earned a lot of bashing due to the speedy spending of the 2022 Confidential Funds of the Office of the Vice President. In the successive funds for the OVP, the CIFs were slashed.
During the Senate hearing for the 2025 budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President, Senator Risa Hontiveros and Vice Pres. Duterte had a heated exchange when the lawmaker questioned her book.
Hontiveros revealed that the budget proposal of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte includes the Php 10 million for the distribution of the book that the Vice President authored herself. The Vice President snubbed the question and accused the lawmaker of politicizing.
Recently, during the House committee on budget hearing of the 2025 budget proposal of the OVP, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte sparred with ACT Teachers Party List Representative France Castro. The latter raised a question on the spending of the 2022 Confidential Funds of the OVP.
Castro also cited that the Commission on Audit disallowed the Php 73 million budget in the Php 125 million Confidential Funds of the OVP. However, the questions on the CIF spending and the Notice of Disallowance from COA were both snubbed by Duterte.
“On the budget for 2024, ‘yung Vice President na rin ang nagsabi na slow and low utilization… Pero syempre comment ko lang, mas mabilis siya sa confidential funds. 100% in 11 days,” Castro expressed.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte reacted to the statement of the ACT Teachers Party List Representative tagging it as a “snide comment”. Castro accused her of allegedly like being the one who presides the inquiry.
Kabataan Party List Rep. Raoul Manuel also expressed that the Vice President is diverting the discussion asserting that it should not be allowed. Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo supported the position of the Vice President saying that the issue on the Confidential Funds spending has been laid to rest already.
“‘Yung pondo ng 2023 ay pwede pa ring maging continuing appropriation hanggang
2024. In the same way 2022 pwedeng maging continuing pa rin ng 2023,” House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson Rep. Stella Quimbo said.
The heated exchange went further with Castro comparing Duterte to a squid and the Vice President also throwing shade against the ACT Teachers Party List Representative. It led to the Vice President asking Quimbo to replace the presiding officer of the budget hearing. However, it was denied.
“Pasensya na po, hindi kasama sa poder ninyo ang pagfa-fire ng presiding officer ng hearing na ito,” Quimbo said.
The inquiry on the proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President was deferred by the House panel on September 10.