No Sara: House defers OVP budget debate to Sept. 25

MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte skipped the House of Representatives’ plenary debate for its 2025 budget on Monday.

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said that while a representative from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was present, there was no written authorization or formal explanation of Duterte’s non-attendance.

Libanan said the OVP was scheduled to go first at 10 a.m. but without a representative, they proceeded with the funding requests of other agencies.

In a press conference, Libanan said it is part of the House tradition for heads of government offices or departments to be present during budget deliberations.

“Tradition is part of the rules of the house. Ang kaugalian po dito sa budget hearing na kapag ikaw ang head of the office, of the department, ay kailangan ‘yung personal presence mo. ‘Yun po yung tradition is part of our rules (Tradition is part of the rules of the House. The custom in budget hearings is that if you are the head of an office or department, your presence is required. That is the tradition and it’s part of our rules),” Libanan said.

He said the budget process is “the most significant piece of legislation” that would require the presence of office or department heads during hearings.

The minority leader also highlighted the importance of the budget process in a democratic system, adding that the process of scrutinizing the budget allows the public to understand how funds are being used and how government programs are implemented.

“Pero napaka-importante po ang pagtatalakay natin sa mga line-item appropriations dahil ‘yun po ang essence ng budgeting para malaman ng taumbayan kung anong pinag-gagastuhan natin sa ating pondo (But it is very important for us to tackle the line-item appropriations because that is the essence of budgeting, so the public can know how we are spending public funds),” Libanan said.

Libanan said the deliberation on the OVP budget was considered deferred to Sept. 25, the last day of plenary debates at the House.

Duterte previously said she is leaving the deliberation of the OVP funding “entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives.”

Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong was supposed to defend the OVP’s proposed PHP733-million budget for 2025.

In a letter addressed to Adiong dated Sept. 11 and released to reporters on Monday, Duterte said the OVP had already submitted the necessary documents to the House Committee on Appropriations.

Duterte said she also presented a comprehensive overview of the budget proposals during the Aug. 27 hearing.

“In consideration of the foregoing, the OVP leaves the deliberation of our budget proposal in the plenary entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives,” Duterte said in the letter.

The House Committee on Appropriations had recommended to reduce the OVP budget to PHP733 million but still subject to further deliberations.

Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House will approve the proposed PHP6.352-trillion 2025 national budget on Wednesday after two weeks of plenary debates.