Vice President Sara Duterte appeared solo before the House Committee on Appropriations to defend the proposed ₱902.895-million budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2026.
By tradition, the House extends “parliamentary courtesy” to the country’s two highest officials. But when told that minority lawmakers sought to question her, Duterte made her position clear.
“I waive the privilege (of parliamentary courtesy),” she declared.
ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio grilled Duterte on acknowledgment receipts for OVP confidential funds in 2022, noting that several names listed did not appear in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) records.
“This is the subject of an impeachment trial, and I would not like to discuss the defense for the impeachment trial,” Duterte shot back, referring to her impeachment case that remains archived in the Senate.
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co also challenged the role of the Vice-Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) in disbursing the OVP’s confidential funds.
“Bakit po disbursed siya to the VPSPG or the security heads eh pero ang nakalagay sa Joint Circular No. 2015-01 issued by DBM and COA, that it should be disbursed into the disbursing officers?” Co asked.
Duterte stood firm: “The confidential funds is a subject of impeachment proceedings, is a subject of the Articles of Impeachment from the House of Representatives and I would not like to discuss the defense strategy particularly because the prosecutors will come from the House of Representatives.”
Lawmakers also raised her frequent foreign travels. Duterte countered that her travel authorities were cleared by the Office of the President.
“No public funds were used for all of my travels, I did not charge representation, I did not charge tickets, I did not charge per diem for all my travels in the Office of the Vice President,” she said.
She clarified that ₱7.47 million from the OVP was spent only for her security detail and staff during nine overseas trips.
The budget hearing concluded in just over an hour.