Deputy Majority Leader Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said it was only natural for House members – as human beings – to get offended by Vice President Sara Duterte’s decision not to appear during the budget plenary debates.
It was a familiar situation for Adiong, who was the budget sponsor for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) during the budget process last year, when Vice President Duterte also didn’t attend the plenary deliberations.
But this year, just a few days ago, a smiling and affable Duterte visited the other legislative chamber–the Senate–and looked right at home.
“If it’s a deliberate — a deliberate way of — I don’t know, expressing her preference [for] the Senate or perhaps her disgust then of course everyone as human being, as a person, would feel insulted by the non-attendance of the OVP,” Adiong said.
The House of Representatives’ plenary debates on the P6.793-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or proposed national budget for 2026 ended at past midnight Friday, Oct. 3, with the appearance of Duterte, despite being the head-of-agency of the OVP.
This caused some members of the minority bloc–and perhaps also the majority bloc–to think about calling for a reduction of the OVP’s proposed 2026 funding of P902.895 million.
ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio went as far as to suggest slashing the OVP budget down to P198.8 million, or its Personnel Services (PS) component. This merely covers the salaries of OVP employees.
Adiong said these were just part of the solons’ manifestations over the Vice President’s non-attendance. The matter on whether or not the OVP budget will get reduced will still be tackled in plenary.
The period of amendments on the 2026 GAB–the biggest in the country’s history–will take place next week.
Still, Adiong wished that Vice President Duterte didn’t do the “insulting” move and instead attended the plenary debates in the lower chamber.
This year’s budget sponsor for the OVP was Palawan 2nd district Rep. Jose “Pepito” Alvarez. (Ellson Quismorio)
