Vice President Sara Duterte (left), Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun (Facebook)

Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun got the final word on Tuesday, Aug. 27 during the five-hour budget deliberation of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) under Vice President Sara Duterte, who stubbornly refused to give direct answers on her confidential fund usage. 

Khonghun ended up moving for the deferment of the OVP budget discussion, meaning Vice President Duterte would have to face the House Committee on Appropriations again on Sept. 10. 

The presiding officer, appropriations panel senior vice chairperson, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo, carried the motion at 6:56 p.m. Tuesday after hearing no objection. The Vice President began her presentation of the OVP's proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 at 1:59 p.m. 

It was the first time--at least in the recent history of the House of Representatives--that the office budget of an official as high as the Vice President was deferred. 

"I would like to thank the Vice President for showing her true colors to the House and her lack of respect for check and balances and the separation of powers and accountability.We are a republic. We don't have a king or a queen," Khonghun said during his interpellation. 

"Now, Madam Chair, dahil hindi naman masagot ni VP Sara yung mga katanungan ng miyembro (since VP Sara can't answer the questions of the members), may I move now to defer the hearing of the budget of the Office of the Vice President. I so move," added the House assistant majority leader and "Young Guns" bloc member. 

He was alluding to the generic, repeated responses that the lady official would give to solons on questions pertaining to the OVP's reported spending of P125 million confidential funds in a span of just 11 days in December 2022. 

Like a broken record, Vice President Duterte would either tell the congressmen to refer to her PowerPoint presentation, or that she "forego[es] the defense of OVP budget". 

This tested the patience of Khonghun, Quimbo, and the rest of the appropriations panel as they had to contend with the Vice President's bossy demeanor for five hours straight.

BUT FIRST, READ THIS: 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/27/decorum-takes-backseat-as-vp-duterte-attends-house-budget-hearing 

Most of the House members took the Vice President's tirades of them having an alleged "script" against her sitting down, but not the Zambales solon. 

"I take strong exception doon sa sinabi ni VP kanina na nagbubuhol-buhol na yung script kasi sa totoo lang, wala naman taong script dito," Khonghun said. 

(I take strong exception to VP's claim that the script is getting tangled, because un truth, there's no script here.) 

"Is she accussing Congress? Ang sakin lang is dapat ready i-prove ang ating Vice President (For me, our Vice President should be ready to prove it). Otherwise we should strike it off the record," he said.