The proposed ₱902.9-million budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) stalled again in the House of Representatives after no OVP official of undersecretary rank attended the plenary session on Thursday.
Budget sponsor Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez admitted he was left alone to defend the allocation, saying, “Mr. Speaker, there’s no one from the Office of the Vice President, and I’m prepared to stand alone here, and to stand for the budget of the OVP.”
Alvarez then presented three letters from Vice President Sara Duterte. One detailed her designation of Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio as a representative, while another notified lawmakers that Ortonio was officer-in-charge following Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez’s leave of absence. The third letter spelled out Duterte’s conditions for attending the plenary debates.
“It has come to my attention that the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget of P902.895 million has been deferred due to the committee’s insistence that I attend the plenary deliberations. I am prepared to attend, however, I am seeking the following: 1. The House of Representatives demand the attendance of President Marcos for the P27.3 billion budget deliberation of the Office of the President,” Duterte’s letter read, as quoted by Alvarez.
She added an alternative condition: her appearance would hinge on the House Good Government and Public Accountability Committee producing a Department of Justice document lifting Immigration Lookout Bulletin Orders on seven OVP personnel, including Lopez and Ortonio.
The OVP budget had already been rescheduled multiple times this week due to the absence of an undersecretary-level official. A similar issue occurred last September, when deliberations before the House appropriations panel were postponed after Duterte sent Ortonio in her place.
During a later hearing, Duterte eventually appeared and waived the usual parliamentary courtesy extended to her office, allowing Minority lawmakers to question her over issues including confidential fund spending. ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio challenged the practice of sparing high-ranking officials from scrutiny, stressing that Duterte should respond to unresolved questions on her office’s budget, particularly the use of suspicious names in receipts tied to confidential funds.
