House Speaker Martin Romualdez (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Speaker’s office, Facebook)

"That's the right decision." 

This was House Speaker Martin Romualdez's reaction Monday morning, Nov. 13 to Vice President Sara Duterte's announcement last week that she would no longer pursue confidential funds under the 2024 national budget. 

"I believe that’s the right decision and we hail VP Sara’s decision," Romualdez told House reporters in a chance interview after leading Monday's flag-raising ceremony at Batasan Complex. 

Last Nov. 9, the Duterte announced that she would no longer be pursuing confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) for next year since the issue has proven to be "divisive" among Filipinos. 

Duterte, also the concurrent education secretary, had earlier told congressmen that it would be up to them if they would grant her confidential funds or not. 

Then, in late September or July before approving the P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2023 on third and final reading, the House leadership decided to realign P1.23 billion worth of confidential funds from agencies such as OVP and DepEd to agencies that have a direct hand in securing the West Philippine Sea (WPS). 

The OVP and DepEd were supposed to get a total of P650 million worth of confidential funds under the 2024 spending plan. 

Romualdez is the president of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party. The Vice President resigned as a party member in May 2019.