Vice President Sara Duterte (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House Deputy Speaker Quezon 2nd district Rep. David "Jay-jay" Suarez has claimed that "a lot" of his congressman-colleagues want to ask Vice President Sara Duterte to "step down" in light of her actions in the ongoing budget plenary debates. 

"That's clearly a--a clear sentiment being shared by a lot of members" Suarez told reporters during an impromptu press briefing Tuesday, Sept. 24 with several members of the House "Young Guns" bloc. 

Suarez was referring to the remarks of Assistant Majority Leader Ako-Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, who expressed frustration over Vice President Sara Duterte's non-appearance Monday in the scheduled plenary debate on the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) P2.037-billion budget for 2025. 

This coincided with reports and circulating photos that the Vice President went to Calaguas Island--a beach resort in Camarines Norte--over the weekend. 

"It shows that she is not interested with her duties and functions as the Vice President of the Philippines," Bongalon said. 

"So kung ganyan po yung lumalabas , probably we can ask her to step down as the Vice President," added Bongalon, one of the Committee on Appropriations' vice chairmen who have been defending the P6.352-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB). 

"Kasi nakikita natin eh, hindi naman siya dumadalo sa mga pagdinig dito po sa Kongreso so ano pong ibig sabihin nito? Hindi na po siya interesado at mas pinili nya pa pong pumunta sa isang beach resort kesa dumalo po dito sa pagdinig ng kanya pong budget," he said of the lady official 

(Because we can see it, she hasn't been attending the hearings in Congress, so what does this mean? She is no longer interested and she choose to go to a beach resort instead of attending a hearing of her own budget here.)

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/9/24/we-waited-17-hours-vp-sara-s-dodging-of-budget-debate-a-clear-betrayal-of-public-trust-says-solon

Next year’s GAB or proposed national budget is embodied in House Bill (HB) No.10800.

In further backing Bongalon's statements, Suarez said that elected officials like themselves have work and responsibilities that they are expected to accomplish. 

"This is not even about her, this is about the Office of the Vice President, the second highest position of the land. And you have you put respect and due courtesy to that office. And to simply show up and do your work, I think it's the least that she can do for the OVP," said the lawmaker from Quezon.

Suarez added: "She can come here eh, she's been here twice. She went here during the budget briefing at the committee level. She went here last week during the first hearing on [the Committee on] Good Government [and Public Accountability]. 

"So if she has time to go to the beach, she should have time to come here."