by Nils

Skipping the Truth.

On September 10, Vice President Sara Duterte and her entire office abruptly skipped the second round of budget deliberations for her agency, putting the status of her funding request for 2025 in limbo. “We defer entirely to the discretion and judgment of the committee regarding our proposed budget for the upcoming year,” Duterte stated in a letter submitted to the House.

For someone in the second highest government position in the Philippines, skipping an opportunity to clarify these financial matters leaves many Filipinos wondering how taxpayer money is being spent. This silence speaks volumes and raises concerns about transparency in her administration—making us wonder whether or not there’s something being hidden from the public. Where is the hard-earned money of Filipinos actually going?

Si Sara Duterte ay ‘Isang Kaibigan’ (Sara Duterte is a Friend)

The controversy arose when, on August 20, 2024, Senator Risa Hontiveros questioned Duterte about the content of her self-authored book, Isang Kaibigan (A Friend), which was allocated PHP 10 million under the 2025 proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP). Instead of addressing the content of the book, Duterte deflected by accusing Hontiveros of “politicizing” the discussion. Notably, the book consists of only sixteen pages, and the final page features Duterte’s portrait alongside her position title and the statement, “Siya ay isang tunay na kaibigan,” (She is a true friend). In her defense, the intended audience of her storybook is elementary students who are not voters in the 2028 elections. “Hindi ko maintindihan ang ugali ng ating resource person…Ang VP ang nagbanggit ng salitang ‘boboto,’ wala akong sinabing ‘boboto’,“ (“I don’t understand the behavior of our resource person… The VP mentioned the word ‘vote,’ I never said ‘vote’”), Hontiveros said. This defensiveness raises questions about why she felt the need to deflect, especially since the book’s content could have been simply summarized as a ‘celebration of friendship.’

The book will be given to children as part of her “PagbaBAGo: A Million Learners and Trees Campaign,” which aims to distribute one million bags filled with school supplies and dental kits and plant one million seedlings. However, it quickly made headlines online, with critics accusing it of plagiarism and spreading misinformation. For instance, there was an improper use of Filipino terms like  “sila,” and “sina,” and factual inaccuracies such as depicting an owl as active during the day when it is widely known to be a nocturnal animal. Moreover, it was also hounded by plagiarism allegations due to its similarities to the 2005 graphic novel “Owly,” written and illustrated by American writer and artist Andy Runton. This backlash raised further concerns about the rationale behind its significant budget allocation.

Firstly, the budget allocation appears disproportionately high for a project of this nature, especially when the book is only sixteen pages long. Additionally, potential plagiarism and factual inaccuracies in the book undermine its educational value, questioning the efficacy of spending such a substantial amount. Most importantly, Duterte herself failed to explain the true intention of distributing these books. The failure to defend the projects under her own office in the hearing tells a lot about her incompetence as the Vice President of the Philippines. Duterte has positioned herself as a figure of “friendship,” as her self-authored book suggests. Yet, these recent controversies surrounding her budget allocations seem to contradict this image. Moreover, Duterte’s own words, “Hindi naman kasi kami talaga nagkausap niyan. Hindi kami magkaibigan,” referring to her 2022 election running-mate, President Bongbong Marcos, despite their “UniTeam” platform, which does not exactly reflect the true friendship that she wishes to portray. 

‘Hindi ako bratinella’ (I’m not a spoiled brat)

Some lawmakers have labeled Duterte as a “bratinella,” or spoiled brat after she refused to answer any questions in the budget hearing, particularly regarding her spending of confidential funds from the past two years. Instead of defending the OVP’s budget proposal, she defended herself from the spoiled brat allegations: “Hindi ako ‘bratinella’ o spoiled brat dahil kilala nila ako simula noong ako ay nasa Davao pa…kilala ako ng taumbayan na hindi ko inaabuso ang aking power…” Ironically enough, during her term as Davao City Mayor from 2016 to 2022, she used a total of PHP 2.697 billion in confidential funds—a fact that casts doubt on her claims.

Following the Isang Kaibigan controversy, the budget hearing in the House of Representatives on August 27, 2024, placed Duterte in the spotlight once again after repeatedly dodging questions on her past confidential expenses as Vice President, which amounted to a staggering PHP 775 million for OVP and Department of Education (DepEd) from 2022 to 2023. Lawmakers particularly focused on scrutinizing the infamous PHP 125 million disbursements made in a span of just 11 days in 2022. 

This issue was raised during the hearing as a significant portion of the PHP 125 million — PHP 73 million — was flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) due to the lack of supporting documents that could justify the use of these funds for information gathering or surveillance. At least PHP 69 million of the PHP 73 million disallowed involved payments of rewards in cash, various goods, and medicines. However, the OVP failed to provide evidence supporting the success of information gathering and/or surveillance activities associated with these payments. The remaining PHP 3.5 million was improperly used for the purchase of tables, chairs, desktop computers, and printers, none of which are traditionally associated with confidential activities. 

Confidential funds are budget allocations set aside for sensitive operations related to national security, intelligence gathering, law enforcement, and other covert activities. Given that neither the OVP nor DepEd, which was previously under Duterte’s leadership, is directly involved in intelligence operations, why, in the first place, was it given a confidential fund? In contrast, former Vice President Leni Robredo operated without any confidential funds during her six-year term, showcasing that the OVP can function effectively with full transparency. These massive sums in the spending of Duterte’s confidential funds have eroded the public’s trust—which is not only an essential foundation of friendship—but of public service as well. Filipinos deserve at least an explanation of where their money is being spent. If she wishes to shake off the “bratinella” image, it is high time she steps up and addresses the concerns of the public she serves.

Shimenet (She may not) like being questioned.

“She may not like how I answer, she may not like the content of my answer. But I am answering.” These words, repeated by Duterte during nearly six hours of questioning, have become the center of attention in the budget deliberation that unfolded recently. After stepping down from the Marcos administration as Education Secretary and Vice Chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), this was the first year she was questioned, as she could no longer rely on “parliamentary courtesy,” which allowed her to breeze through committee-level budget deliberations with no questions asked back in 2022-2023. However, she has left everyone with more questions than answers surrounding her 2025 budget proposal. 

Tensions escalated when, on September 10, 2024, Duterte and her entire office skipped the House budget deliberations, further igniting the controversy surrounding her proposed PHP 2.037 billion budget for 2025, the COA’s findings on the disallowed confidential funds, and the overall use of such allocations. Despite lawmakers waiting for an hour, it was clear that no one from her office was coming. This prompted the House Committee on Appropriations to recommend reducing the OVP’s budget to PHP 733 million, pending further deliberations, and ultimately deferred the budget discussion to September 25.

For the second time, on September 25, 2024, Duterte failed to attend a House inquiry into the DepEd’s fund use, labeling the probe as “unnecessary” and calling these attempts as “political attacks.” However, the House committee emphasized that the investigation is not prompted by any motive other than a desire to make sense of the numbers—an attempt to seek answers behind Duterte’s use of funds.

Simply rejecting allegations without any explanations and playing the victim on every other budget deliberation implies that there is something behind the large confidential fund amounts that remain unaccounted for. Despite claiming that she’s ‘not a bratinella,’ Duterte refuses to answer questions about her requests for these funds. This behavior gives the impression that she is demanding, rather than properly requesting, the funds—especially when considering that it’s the people’s budget she’s asking for. “If she believes she has done no wrong, she should welcome the chance to explain her office’s actions,” House Assistant Majority Leader Raul Angelo Bongalon said, urging the Vice President to stop framing the hearing as a personal attack. Ultimately, it is the duty of the House committee to ask tough questions, while it is Duterte’s duty as an elected official to respond with transparency and clarity. 

“She may not like our questions last hearing. She may not like being questioned about the OVP expenses. She may not like sitting with us here in the House, but she is accountable to the people, and she has this sworn duty to the Constitution being the head of the agency to be here,” Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said after Duterte snubbed the resumption of the House panel hearing.

‘I can work with zero budget.’

According to Duterte, her office could function “even without a budget” since they only need small-scale operations for their projects, but then why exactly is the OVP requesting PHP 2.037 billion for 2025 to fund its “small” operations, up from PHP 1.885 billion this year? 

The OVP intends to allocate a significant portion of the 2025 budget to medical and burial assistance, disaster relief, educational support, and entrepreneurial initiatives—a mere list of programs that she failed to defend during the hearings. While these services are beneficial, critics argue that they are just duplicate services already offered by established agencies such as the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, potentially leading to inefficiency and redundant spending of public funds. 

However, the effectiveness of these programs must not be criticized before even being implemented. Yet, the COA’s reports of unauthorized confidential funds and poorly documented welfare projects tell us otherwise, which raises doubts about the OVP’s fiscal management and transparency. Moreover, it was found that out of the PHP 150 million allotted for VP Sara’s “Mag Negosyo Ta ‘Day” entrepreneurial program, only PHP 600,000, or 0.4%, was utilized by the end of 2023. Additionally, COA reported deficiencies in the distribution of goods under Duterte’s office.

With all these, the real issue lies not in the budget’s size but in its allocation and whether it is properly managed by those who are in government positions. Given that the OVP has already planned these programs, they must justify how it can contribute uniquely to marginalized sectors without duplicating the efforts of better-equipped agencies.  Filipino taxpayers deserve an assurance that their contributions are utilized effectively. Thus, the OVP must provide a clear and detailed plan that ensures each peso spent will directly improve the welfare of the people and contribute to the country’s development. However, the absence of the OVP in recent budget hearings and deliberations leaves these critical questions unanswered, which prompted the House to approve the reduced PHP 733 million budget.

All these controversies highlight the need for transparency and accountability in the management of public funds—the need to hear explanations from the Vice President. The revelations at the House should serve as a wake-up call for lawmakers to revisit the rules governing confidential funds. This is not only about holding Duterte accountable but, more critically, ensuring that the hard-earned money of the Filipinos is being utilized responsibly.
With the local elections right around the corner, we should all remember that public service requires commitment to upholding public trust. While we cannot control who runs, we have the power to choose who leads. We cannot allow a single peso to be spent without hearing a proper justification.