Duterte office budget clears House panel

Metro Manila, Philippines - The proposed ₱902.8-million budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2026 cleared the House appropriations committee an hour into the hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 16, prolonged by discussions on the use of confidential funds.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio raised the P125-million confidential fund used in 2022, and spent for only 11 days. He asked how some activities before the fund was released were paid for.

Duterte refused to respond.

“This is the subject of an impeachment trial and I would not like to discuss the defense for the impeachment trial,” she said.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co, meanwhile, asked how much was spent for Duterte’s foreign trips.

Duterte said the OVP spent P7.4 million for nine trips, but the amount only covers her three staff and two security personnel.

She detailed the following:

+ ₱938,379.99 (two trips in Southeast Asia)

+ ₱645,371 (one trip to Australia)

+ ₱4,748,199.45 (three trips to the Middle East and Europe)

+ ₱1,141,937 (three trips in East Asia)

“No public funds were used for all my travels. I did not charge representation. I did not charge ticket. I did not charge per diem for all my travels in the Office of the Vice President,” she said.

“Wala akong kinuha ng gobyerno sa mga biyahe ko abroad,” Duterte said in an ambush interview after the hearing.

[Translation: I did not get anything from the government from my travels abroad.]

The initial budget hearing was deferred on Friday as the office sent a delegation led by an assistant secretary. An undersecretary is required to defend the budget. Hence, the deliberation was rescheduled on Tuesday.

The OVP earlier shared a screenshot of a conversation between Duterte and Palawan Rep. Jose Alvarez, the OVP budget sponsor. It showed that Alvarez said that the hearing is deferred, before Duterte replied that she would attend the initial hearing.