Metro Manila, Philippines— President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dismissed claims that the hearing for the proposed ₱2.037-billion budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was politicized.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives engaged in a five-hour discussion with Vice President Sara Duterte last week. The vice president eventually declined to defend her office’s budget, offering templated responses to the lawmakers’ inquiries.
The House panel ultimately decided to defer the budget hearing for Sept. 10, citing a “lack of substantive answers.”
In a separate Senate budget hearing, Duterte had a heated exchange with Senator Risa Hontiveros, who questioned the allocation of ₱10 million for a children’s book project.
“This is another example of politicizing the government’s budget,” Duterte said in response to Hontiveros.
When asked to comment, Marcos refuted the idea that the budget process was being politicized.
He said budget hearings are a well-established annual procedure conducted by Congress for “every single government agency,” including the Office of the Vice President.
“It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the budget,” Marcos stated.
“So, I don’t know how she can characterize these hearings, which are essentially an information-gathering exercise for both the House and the Senate to understand what the budget will look like,” he added.
