THE House of Representatives will not allow Vice President Sara Duterte to derail the passage of the proposed 2025 national budget through her repeated absence in plenary deliberations on funding for her office, key House members said on Tuesday.
They told a news conference that unanswered issues on the budget of the Office of the Vice President would not affect the entire spending program for next year.
The House would not wait for the Vice President to show up and would approve the budget with or without her, they said.
“Kung ang tingin ng ating Vice President eh kaya niyang isabotahe ‘yong pagpasa ng budget ng ating pamahalaan for 2025, hindi po papayagan ng (House of Representatives) ‘yon,” House Assistant Majority Leader and Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun, a member of the Young Guns bloc in the chamber said.
Khonghun lamented that Vice President Duterte chose to snub the House without thinking that her funding also affects OVP personnel.
“Sana maisip din ng ating Vice President na d’yan din nakasalalay sa budget ng OVP ‘yong mga nagtatrabaho sa kanyang opisina…na kailangan ng sweldo, kailangan ng trabaho. Sana maisip din niya ‘yon na hindi naman pupwede na palaging it’s all about her,” he said.
Another Young Guns member, Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, an appropriations committee vice chairman, said the Vice President’s absence delays the approval of the proposed 2025 budget.
However, Bongalon said the any delay on the part of a single agency should not affect the entire spending measure.
“Well of course, definitely, naapektuhan po ‘yong budget process, it causes delay, and of course, I would like to emphasize that we cannot sacrifice the entirety, the national budget because of one agency,” he said.
“We have to remember that we keep on mentioning this. Ito pong General Appropriations Act is the most important piece of legislation every year because we are talking about the national budget. We’re talking about the programs to be funded especially yung mga social services program, ayuda, programa sa mga mangingisda, sa ating members of the agricultural sector, so in other words, kung ito po ay may delay at hindi po maipasa sa tamang oras, the negative impact is that we will have a re-enacted budget,” he added.
He pointed out that the House would not allow the reenactment of this year’s budget.
“So if meron pong isang ahensya ng gobyerno na makakaapekto po, definitely we will not allow that because masa-sacrifice po ‘yong the entirety of the budget of the Republic of the Philippines,” Bongalon stressed.
Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. David “Jay-Jay” Suarez called on VP Sara Duterte not to disrespect the budget deliberation process.
“We will extend all courtesy and leeway and kung necessary magpupuyat tayo para lang antayin siya. Kaso lang ang mahalaga, huwag naman po natin i-disrespect ‘yong proseso dahil bahagi po talaga ito ng demokrasya eh,” he said.
He said the Vice President should not be exempted from such process.
“Kung lahat naman po dumadaan dito, bakit exempted, walang exemption dito. Everybody has to go through the process,” he said.
As for the reenactment of this year’s budget, Suarez said it is a non-issue.
“So far naman all the other departments and agencies have fully complied with the requirements of the law. So ito lang naman talaga, ‘yong issue lang ng Office of the Vice President ‘yong medyo hindi pa namin maintindihan, ako personally hindi ko talaga maintindihan kung bakit hindi nalang dumalo dito para matapos na ito,” he added.
A third Young Guns member, 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez said the Vice President’s repeated absence is a “procedural issue” that is slowing down plenary budget deliberations.
“I think procedural lang naman po ito, it’s just a procedural issue. The budget process of Congress is slowing, slowing down to accommodate the certain personalities to appear, to be heard, to be fair, to be lenient,” Gutierrez said.
“And I think the leniency afforded on this procedural issue will have its limit and we will not sacrifice the budget for the sake of this procedural lapse. The substantive must reign and still we will pass this budget. It’s just that, what we’re trying to say here is that the budget would wait for no man. But in this case it is a woman,” he said.
For his part, La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the Vice President is being paid by taxpayers partly to fulfill her obligations during the budget enactment process.
“‘Yong budget deliberations po, bayad kami ng taong bayan para busisiin, magtanong, gumawa ng naakmang mga batas para mas maayos ma-implement po ‘yong mga ganitong programa like for the case of the Office of the Vice President,” he said.
“Pero may trabaho po sila, may obligasyon sila dito at bayad sila ng taumbayan para dumating dito at sagutin ang mga tanong para po mas maging efficient ang proposal nila for the next year. So ganoon lang po kasimple,” he said.
He pointed out that Duterte seemed to be following a script choosing to attend only the first hearing of the House appropriations committee and skip subsequent committee and plenary deliberations.
“Hindi po siya nag-attend, hindi nag-participate. Kung nandyan man, hindi nasagot po ‘yung mga tanong lalo po noong briefings kasi nga mayroon pong statement, mayroon siyang script na ginamit. E syempre makikita niyo ang frustration sa House,” he stressed.
The lawmakers were one in saying that a reenacted budget, even for the Office of the Vice President, is not possible.
“When we speak of re-enacted budget, kung ano ‘yong budget this present year, that will be the budget for next year. So affected ‘yong mga programa na kailangan taasan yung pondo, mga programa na dapat kailangan busisin,” Bongalon said.
Khonghun said, “Well ‘yong reenacted budget na sinasabi sa budget ng OVP, it is not possible…napaka-imposible no’n kasi nagtatrabaho ang mga myembro ng (House) para ipasa ‘yong budget on time.”
