Former vice presidential spokesperson Barry Gutierrez believed that leadership and not the budget spelled the difference between how the Office of the Vice President (OVP) operated during the term of ex-vice president Leni Robredo.
(From left) Vice President Sara Duterte and former vice president Leni Robredo (OVP photos)
“VP Leni accomplished more with a smaller budget because: 1) she spent prudently, and 2) she inspired a tremendous amount of support from individual citizens and the private sector,” Gutierrez, a lawyer, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Aug. 28.
“Simple lesson? It's not the budget, but the leader,” he added.
This was posted alongside a shared news link of Vice President Sara Duterte’s remarks on Robredo’s budget during her term.
In her opening remarks during the House appropriations committee hearing for the OVP’s proposed P2.037 billion budget for 2025, Duterte addressed numerous issues being hurled at her office, particularly the comparison with her predecessor’s budget.
“It is my belief that it would be a stretch, if not absurd, to compare the budget of my immediate predecessor to the present budget proposal,” she said.
“We do not have personal knowledge as to why she did not request for a fair budget for her projects,” Duterte added.
Robredo, a staunch critic of Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, received comparatively measly amounts compared to the Vice President.
The largest budget the OVP received under Robredo was P900 million in 2021. The combined total allocation approved for Robredo’s OVP from 2017 to 2022 was P3.9 billion.
In 2023 and 2024, Duterte’s OVP received P4.2 billion.
Duterte also argued that during her predecessors’ time, the security personnel assigned to the OVP was limited only to the Vice Presidential Security Detachment (VPSD).
But during her term, several defense and security agencies, including the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), made legal issuances on the creation of the AFP Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) and the PNP Vice Presidential Protection Division (VPPD).
“It must also be clarified that the number of security personnel is not determined by the OVP. We are mere recipients of the security personnel detailed to the office,” she said.
“To date, there are no more PNP personnel with the OVP,” the Vice President clarified.
Earlier this month, Duterte called the pull out of some 75 PNP personnel from her security detail a form of “political harassment” after she resigned from President Marcos’ Cabinet.
A report by the Commission on Audit (COA) said that 433 personnel served in Duterte’s security and protection group in 2022.
During Robredo’s last full term in 2021, only 78 detailed military personnel were assigned to her.