Vice President Sara Duterte declined to answer questions related to the controversial confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) during a recent budget hearing.
Duterte asserted that the hearing’s primary focus should be on the proposed P2 billion budget for the OVP for 2025, emphasizing that this budget does not include the confidential funds for that year.
This response came after ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro inquired about the notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding the OVP’s expenditures.
During the House Committee on Appropriations hearing, COA presented a notice of disallowance for P73 million worth of confidential funds spent by the OVP in 2022.
When asked by Castro about the disbursement of these funds, Duterte did not provide a direct answer. Instead, she labeled Castro’s inquiry as an “insulting comment” and requested Marikina Representative Stella Quimbo, the senior vice chairperson of the House budget panel, to allow her to make an “insulting comment” in return.
Rep. Quimbo however, stated that she did not find Castro’s question insulting.