VP Duterte drops confidential fund request for 2024 – Angara

Vice President Sara Duterte is no longer interested in pursuing P500 million worth of confidential funds for the agencies she leads for the next fiscal year, Senator Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara said Thursday.

During the second day of the marathon Senate plenary debates on the P5.768 trillion proposed national budget for next year, Angara divulged that he received a letter from Duterte informing him of such a decision.

Duterte, who heads the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, in a concurrent capacity, is requesting a total of P500 million in confidential funds, which was earlier removed from the final version of the General Appropriations Bill of the House of Representatives.

"Your honor, actually, we are in receipt of a statement from the VP [and] we discussed [it] earlier. According to her, the OVP can only propose a budget to support the safe implementation of its programs to alleviate poverty and promote [the] general welfare of each and every Filipino family," Angara said.

"Nonetheless, they will no longer pursue the confidential and intelligence funds or the confidential funds. And the reason why is because it seems to be divisive, and as the VP, she swore and [took an] oath to keep the country peaceful and strong," he added.

Michael Poa, Duterte's spokesperson reiterated Duterte's decision to drop her confidential funds request in a chance interview at the Senate.

"We always say in the Office of the Vice President that we can only suggest a budget to the Congress for the proper implementation of our projects to address poverty and to promote the welfare of every Filipino family," Poa said.

"Nevertheless, [VP Duterte] would no longer pursue her request for confidential funds. Why? Because we've seen the tendency of the issue to become divisive," he added.

Poa noted that the very same reason prompted Duterte to drop her bid for confidential funds.

Duterte vs Romualdez

Duterte's request for confidential funds was criticized by the public and political figures as the former heads of the OVP and DepEd did not request such funding in the past.

The vice president caught herself in the middle of a word war with Senate Deputy Leader Risa Hontiveros after the latter's move to question her request for confidential funds.

At one point, Duterte, herself, clapped back against the critics of her confidential funds.

"Whoever is against confidential funds is against peace. Whoever is against peace is an enemy of the state," Duterte said.

A week before the month-long break of Congress, the House of Representatives made a decision to remove the confidential funds of five agencies, including Duterte-led offices, which earned the irate of the vice president's father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a television interview, the older Duterte floated that the removal of the confidential fund to her daughter's offices was politically motivated.

The former chief executive went as far as accusing Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom he said "is poised to be or to run for president," of corruption practices in the lower chamber.

He also tagged the House of Representatives as the "most rotten organization."

Earlier this week, Romualdez took an indirect swipe against Duterte during the resumption of sessions at the House of Representatives by stressing that he would "stand and fight against anyone who scares us into following what they want."

Lawmakers at the lower chamber also called out the former chief executive for threatening the life of ACT Teachers Party-list Representative France Castro, whom he linked as part of the communist rebel group New People's Army.

On Tuesday, the House leadership removed the deputy speaker title from former President now Pampanga 2nd District Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab.

Arroyo and Ungab are both allies of the former president.