Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero says he would rather say nothing on whether or not Vice President Sara Duterte will attend the Senate’s upcoming budget hearings.

This, after the lady official no-showed the plenary debates of the House of Representatives on the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

“Natuto na akong huwag mag-expect ng kahit ano, ma-surprise na lang tayo (I’ve learned not to expect anything, let’s just be surprised),” Escudero said in a press briefing on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

When asked if snubbing the Senate would have Duterte’s budget affected in a similar way to how the House did, Escudero clarified that the situation in the two chambers is different.

“Well hindi ko pwedeng ikumpara dahil nag-attend siya dito, bagaman nagkaroon ng kaunting gusot, kunting-kunti lang ‘yun, hindi rason para i-defer ang budget,” he noted.

(Well, I can’t compare because she attended here. Although there was a slight issue, it was very minor and not a reason to defer the budget.)

While the Senate President did not specify, he could be referring to the heated exchange between the Vice President and Senator Risa Hontiveros during the panel deliberations last August.

Duterte accused Hontiveros of “politicizing” the budget after the lawmaker brought up the children's book “Isang Kaibigan” (A Friend), which had been allocated P10 million under the 2025 proposed budget of the OVP. The book was authored by Duterte herself.

The P2.037-billion proposed budget of Duterte’s office was not affected by this issue as the Senate has submitted it for plenary debates—which is expected to start once Congress resumes session in November.

This, however, was not the case in the House. 

The lower chamber slashed the OVP’s budget by 63 percent to P733.19 million. The funding originally intended for satellite offices and certain social services were redirected to other government agencies.

This came after Duterte’s refusal to participate in the budget deliberations after lawmakers raised her alleged misuse of confidential funds back in 2022, among other concerns.

The Vice President recently said she would attend the Senate’s budget hearing.

Escudero, meanwhile, explained that non-appearance does not necessarily mean the proposed budget would not be approved.

He pointed out that, based on precedent, the Senate may opt not to invite a head of agency in the budget deliberations. Or in some cases, require an official to attend.

“Pagdating naman ng plenary debates, hindi naman sasagot ang head of agency. Ang sasagot ay ang sponsor na sa anumang katanungan ng isang senador,” added Escudero.

(When it comes to the plenary debates, the head of the agency will not be the one answering. It will be the sponsor who will respond to any questions from a senator.)

In the OVP’s case, Senator Grace Poe is the designated budget sponsor. Poe chairs the Senate Committee on Finance.