If Vice President Sara Duterte wants the Filipino people to pay for the budget office, she owes the people straight answers. There must be transparency and accountability.
VP Sara is now under fire for her refusal to participate and answer questions about the proposed P2.037 billion budget for her office for 2025.
Instead of facing the heat in Congress during the second budget hearing of the Committee on Appropriations, VP Sara released a pre-recorded video full of excuses.
First, she said she is a simple person. However, she is the first and only Vice President in the history of the Philippines to have 400+ personal bodyguards and a separate Vice Presidential security group. While she brags about attending the hearing by the Committee of Appropriations alone, it was said that she brought over 100 bodyguards that stood guard outside the conference room.
According to Cong. Elizaldy Co, she even requested that food be provided to her army of bodyguards who did not eat the food.
The VP cannot demand inter-branch courtesy if she shows sheer disrespect for our Congressmen.
To top it off, she had the nerve to shift the blame on Congress when she said, “hindi lang nila makuha ang gusto nila” again in an attempt to make this about her. All she issues are insults after insults instead of answers.
Precisely, the Congress’ mandate is to scrutinize the OVP’s proposed budget and to ask however many questions they need, to ensure it is justified, reasonable and aligned with the OVP’s mandate and that the taxpayers’ money is used effectively, transparently and in accordance with national priorities.
What she fails or refuses to realize is that the disrespect she shows our lawmakers extends to all of us, the Filipino people whom our Congressmen represent.
Cong. Co said out loud what many have just been thinking. He called out VP Sara for her “fakery and diversion tactics,” explaining how “deception is really a Duterte brand, from the fake war on drugs, fake good governance, fake anti-corruption, and now fake answers to issues.”
Why does the Office of the Vice President need P125 million in confidential funds? Is she suddenly running the country’s national security? And what about the P10 million budget to publish a children’s book? A book that was plagiarized, full of grammar mistakes and more about her campaign than educating kids.
This is how our hard-earned taxes are being spent—on nonsense.
