1-RIDER Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN)

1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez has debunked Vice President Sara Duterte's claim that she didn’t make congressmen wait for 17 grueling hours during the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) scheduled plenary budget deliberations last Monday, Sept. 23. 

In particular, Gutierrez placed into proper context the OVP's letter to Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong dated Sept. 11.

“If we take note, the contents of the letter is a reiteration of the answer that they interposed even for the pre-budget deliberations,” Gutierrez said, referring to the letter that Adiong's office officially received last Sept. 16 or a week before the budget debates began.

He said the gist of this letter was the same as the one Vice President Duterte sent to the House Committee on Appropriations chaired by Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, prior to its committee-level approval of the OVP budget.

“In other words, she only repeated that she is leaving it to the House to decide on the fate of her budget. However, it does not say that she will not participate with our processes,” explained Gutierrez, a lawyer and Young Guns bloc member.

“It does not say that she will not attend, it does not say that she will send an authorized representative, so I don’t think the Sept. 11 letter would be any indication of what transpired Monday. So, I don’t think we could have been prepared,” stressed the assistant minority leader. 

In a Facebook post Tuesday night, the OVP branded as “fake news” Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel’s claim that the solons waited for 17 hours, wherein it pointed to the letter as some forms of advanced information to the House of Representatives. 

Impeachment off the table 

Meanwhile, Gutierrez agreed with his minority bloc colleague Manuel that Vice President Duterte's non-appearance in plenary last Monday as a "clear betrayal of public trust". 

However, he was quick to say that impeachment was off the table as far as the lady official is concerned. 

“So when an official who is supposed to appear before the House and defend his or her budget fails to do so, to an extent, betrayal of public trust ‘yan. That is true. It is the betrayal of the duty, the constitutional duty for his or her part in the budget process," Gutierrez said. 

The 1-Rider Party-list solon noted that while Duterte’s absence is concerning, it does not automatically warrant an impeachment. 

“But just to be purely technical, it is, in a way, a betrayal of public trust. Whether it would amount to impeachment, that’s far from the case. Impeachment is not something we are discussing in the House,” Gutierrez clarified.