Vice President Sara Duterte (Noel Pabalate/ MANILA BULLETIN)

If there's anyone guilty of having "scripted" actions, it's Vice President Sara Duterte, not the congressmen holding the budget hearings. 

Thus, said Deputy Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre and Assistant Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V in a press conference Wednesday, Sept. 11 amid the Vice President's claim that the House members had been conspiring against her. 

Ortega said that the only scripted act he saw was when the Vice President repeatedly read a prepared, generic response during the Aug. 27 budget hearing of the Office of the Vice President (OVP). 

She used this to answer questions about her use of P125 million worth of confidential funds, which was spent in just 11 days in December 2022. A total of P73.287 million from this amount was disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA). 

“Meron po akong nakitang may script, paulit-ulit po ‘yung sagot niya binabasa niya ‘yung script niya,” Ortega said. 

(I saw a script, and she repeatedly read her answer from that script.) 

“Kami po wala po kaming script, wala naman pong scenario, wala naman pong ganun. Pero lahat po ng sagot [ng Vice President] binabasa po ‘yung script. ‘Yun lang po masasabi ko,” Ortega added. 

(As for us, we don't have any script, there are no scenarios, nothing like that. But all her answers were from a script. That's all I  can say.) 

Acidre similarly dismissed the lady official's claim of a script against her. 

“It’s a very convenient reason to claim we’re working off a script. In an appropriations committee meeting, there are around 50 people, coming from different persuasions, different districts, and different perspectives. 

"Galing naman siguro ng scriptwriter na kaya niyang pag-isahin ang lahat (That's a heck of scriptwriter if all of these can be combined),” he said sarcastically. 

Acidre added that "The Vice President chose to make these accusations through media in an obviously scripted television interview." 

"Kung marami naman siyang sasabihin, bakit hindi niya sinabi nung nandito siya sa Kongreso?” he asked. 

(If she had a lot of things to say, why didn't she say say here it Congress?) 

The Vice President was a no-show at the Sept. 10 continuation of the budget hearing on the proposed P2.037-billion budget of the OVP for 2025. She instead chose to release a series of video interviews wherein she claimed the budget hearings were scripted. 

Acidre expressed disappointment over how the Vice President used the media to make claims about the removal of her confidential funds, rather than address the issue directly during the budget hearings. 

“Naghahanap sila ng script, pero ang tanong namin, bakit ang isang television interview na obviously parehong subject, parehong interviewer, parehong set, inextend pa ng tatlong araw at released in sync with the proceedings in Congress? Mas alam ng taumbayan kung sino ang may script,” he said. 

(They're looking for a script, but our question is, why was a television interview, which obviously had the same subject, same interviewer, and same set extended for three days and released in sync with the proceedings in Congress? The people know who really has a script.)