Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

Food wastage has become a recurring accusation against Vice President Sara Duterte. 

During the House Committee on Appropriations' hearing on the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) budget for 2025 on Tuesday, Sept. 10, a visibly annoyed Ako-Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co exposed to the panel how the lady official "wasted government resources". 

This was in connection with the previous OVP hearing last Aug. 27, when Vice President Duterte allegedly brought a platoon-sized security contingent. 

"Simpleng tao lang daw siya pero mahigit 400 ang bodyguards. Siya lang po ang kaisa-isang Vice President sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas na may ganun kadaming security. May sarili pang Vice Presidential Security Group (VPSG). Never happend in the history of the Philippines," Co said in a manifestation. 

(She claims to be a simple person but she has over 400 bodyguards. She is the only Vice President in the history of the Philippines to have that many security personnel. She even has her own VPSG.) 

Referring to the Aug. 27 budget hearing of the OVP, Appropriations Committee Chairman Co said: "Nag-iisa nga siyang humarap sa pagdinig ng Committee on Appropriations pero sangka-terba naman ang bodyguard sa labas ng conference room." 

(She's the only one who faced the Committee on Appropriations but she had a bunch of bodyguards outside the conference room.) 

"Humiling pa ng pagkain para sa 100 guwardiya na dala-dala niya at hindi naman kinain. Hindi po ba’t pang-iinsulto at pag-aaksaya ito ng resources ng gobyerno?" Co asked. 

(She even requested food for the 100 guards that she brought, but it wasn't eaten. Isn't that an insult and a waste of government resources?) 

Vice President Duterte no-showed the budget hearing Tuesday.

Last week, Assistant Majority Leaders Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun and La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V took the Department of Education (DepEd) to task for serving spoiled milk and moldy bread ("nutribuns") to pupils in 2023 under the agency's School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP). 

DepEd last year was led by then-secretary, Vice President Duterte. She vacated her post at the department only last July 19. 

The two "Young Guns" bloc members said that as per the Commission on Audit (COA), thousands of schoolchildren were affected since the delivery of spoiled milk and moldy nutribuns took place in 10 of the country’s 17 regions. 

There are 21 school divisions in these 10 regions. 

“That is why we say this is criminal neglect on the part of the implementers of the program, from the highest level at DepEd to the level of the school-recipient. The suppliers are equally guilty and they, too, should be punished,” the two solons said.