La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

The lack of familiarity or knowledge with the proposed P2.037-billion 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) could be the reason why Vice President Sara Duterte opted to skip the deliberations in the House Committee on Appropriations, according to La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V.

Ortega, an assistant majority leader, said Vice President Duterte’s conspicuous absence at the Tuesday hearing could be easy to explain.

“Ang tingin ko, hindi niya kabisado yata ‘yung pino-propose niyang budget (I think that she isn’t familiar with her proposed budget),” Ortega said during the press briefing on Wednesday, Sep. 11.

“Baka hindi niya alam ‘yung nilalaman ng budget niya, kaya gano’n na lang po niya kami sagutin, gano’n na lang po ‘yung impression na iniwan niya,” he added.

(Maybe she doesn't know the contents of her budget, so she just answered us like that, that's the impression she left.)

During the first hearing on the OVP’s budget last Aug. 27, a defiant Duterte evaded questions from lawmakers of both the majority and minority.

The Vice President instead answered most of the questions with the line: “I would like to forgo the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format. I will leave it up to the House to decide on the budget submitted."

Ortega recalled that during the first hearing, he specifically asked about the P5 million that was flagged in an audit observation memorandum (AOM) of the Commission on Audit (COA).

“Yung P5 million niya na AOM at hindi mo naapela o hindi mo nadepensehan o hindi mo naibalik, eh may mga natatanggal nga pong mayor, may mga naaalis po na public officials dahil sa ganiyan na problema,” the solon cautioned.

(Her P5 million that was in AOM and you didn't appeal it or you didn't defend it or you didn't return it, even though some mayors are fired, some public officials are removed because of that kind of problem.)

“So, baka hindi niya lang alam kung how her budget works or ano po laman ng budget niya,” he asserted.

(So, maybe she just doesn't know how her budget works or what's in her budget.)

Before COA issues a notice of disallowance—which they later gave the OVP—the agency releases an AOM to inform an agency of any deficiency found in its accounts, transactions and operations.

The COA recently issued a notice of disallowance on P73.2 million of the OVP’s P125-million confidential funds for 2022. Notably, this is the fund that the OVP spent in just 11 days.

“Tapos nga hindi um-attend kahapon, baka hindi niya kabisado o hindi niya alam ang nangyayari sa loob ng opisina niya kaya nagkaroon ng mga gano’ng problema, ‘yung mga AOM niya,” notes Ortega.

(Then she didn't attend yesterday, maybe she wasn't familiar or didn't know what was going on inside her office so there were problems like that, her AOMs.)

No representative from the OVP attended the hearing Tuesday.