VP Sara's lack of interest in budget probe due to upcoming polls — House leader

Vice President Sara Duterte's supposed loss of interest in performing her duties and responsibilities may have something to do with the upcoming 2025 mid-term elections, a House leader said on Wednesday. 

The House of Representatives, which is expected to pass House Bill 10800 or the General Appropriations Bill containing the proposed P6.352 trillion 2025 budget today, Wednesday, is still waiting for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to defend its budget at the plenary. 

Duterte skipped—not once but twice—the deliberations on her office's proposed P733.198 million allocation following a verbal sparring with the members of the House who repeatedly pressed her about how she utilized the P125 million in confidential funds in 11 days in December 2022.

Of the amount, P73.287 million was disallowed by the Commission on Audit.

"She doesn't seem interested. So, I'm assuming she might run for another position. I don't know if she's running for the Senate or mayorship," Assistant Majority Leader Paolo Ortega said in an ambush interview. 

"If you see that disinterest, the way that she's been handling the invitation to her by the House of Representatives with regard to the budget… there must be urgency," he added, asserting that Duterte might have "other plans" to prioritize. 

In late June, the VP disclosed that his brothers, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, will seek a Senate in the 2025 polls along with their father, former President Rodrigo Duterte. 

The announcement came at the heels of a widening rift between the Dutertes and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The VP also left the Marcos Cabinet as Education Secretary in the same month. 

In an ambush interview earlier this month, VP Duterte denied she will run in the 2025 polls, but she's not closing her doors to the possibility of seeking a top post in the next presidential elections in 2028. 

Duterte vs. House

Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House "will come up with a resolution" regarding Duterte's refusal to face lawmakers to justify her requested budget and planned programs for next year. 

Duterte has maintained that she will already leave the fate of the OVP's funding "entirely to the pleasure of the House of Representatives," which she accused of plotting her impeachment. 

In addition, Duterte also asserted that she will not attend the succeeding investigation of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability into the OVP's and the Department of Education's alleged misuse of its annual allocation. 

She was a no-show in the panel's second day of inquiry on Wednesday. 

The OVP's allocation plunged to P733.198 million from the initial P2.026 billion after the House Committee on Appropriations "unanimously" agreed to slash P1.293 billion, citing its "overextended" offices and social services "overlapping" with those with other state agencies.

Duterte claimed that "defunding" her office was part of the political attack against her ahead of the 2025 and 2028 polls.

Nevertheless, she maintained that the OVP could function even without a budget.