The budget hearing of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) before the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday, Sept. 19, was quiet and smooth – very different from last year’s tense and heated session.
Vice President Sara Duterte spent just one hour speaking to the panel before the hearing on the OVP’s proposed P902.895 million outlay for 2026 was terminated or concluded.
The situation was a far cry from the OVP budget hearing last year, when decorum took a backseat as an antagonistic Duterte clashed with lawmakers over her use of confidential and intelligence funds – issues that later formed the basis of an impeachment complaint filed by the same chamber before the Senate last February.
But the Vice President who attended the proceedings Tuesday was calm and composed. More notably, she showed willingness to engage by waiving the parliamentary courtesy that would have allowed her to skip questioning.
Appropriations vice chairman and OVP budget sponsor, Palawan 2nd district Rep. Jose “Pepito” Alvarez was the one who directed most of the traffic during the hearing.
“We are grateful that present here today to present the proposed budget is no less than the Vice President herself,” Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela “Mika” Suansing said.
“I do not have an opening remark,” Vice President Duterte said after she was asked to begin the OVP’s presentation at around 9:40 a.m.
The agency went straight to showing an audio-visual presentation and PowerPoint presentation.
Senior Deputy Minority Leader Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar Erice said afterward: “Madam chair, we in the minority believe that there are no contentious issues in the budget of the [OVP], especially in the 2025-2026 budget of the said agency.”
“Much that we would like to honor the tradition [on parliamentary courtesy] that we extend to the [OVP], there are two members of the minority who would like to ask questions,” Erice said, referring to fellow minority solons ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co.
No member of the majority bloc interpellated or asked questions to the Vice President.
As expected, Tinio and Co–both Makabayan bloc solons–quizzed Vice President Duterte on her foreign trips and on the issue of confidential funds. There was no tension or raising of voices during the exchanges–very much unlike last year.
The elderly Alvarez also strictly enforced the five-minute rule per interpellator, so as not to ruin the flow of the proceedings.
By 10:40 a.m., the Vice President had answered the last question from Makabayan. Erice then moved to terminate the budget hearing.
The appropriations panel carried this after hearing no objections from the members, and the second highest official of the land went her way. (Ellson Quismorio)
