House quad-committee (quad-comm) overall chairman, Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. lectured Vice President Sara Duterte on how Congress handles the budget of government agencies following the latter's latest tirade at lawmakers.

In a press conference Thursday, Aug. 27, Abante explained that lawmakers do not simply accept the national budget--specifically the National Expenditure Program (NEP)--but are mandated to scrutinize and investigate how funds are proposed, allocated, and used.

“I think the VP should realize that Congress has all the right to scrutinize the budget, because we have the power of the purse, whether it be the Senate or the House,” Abante said, referring to Duterte.

Earlier, Duterte, a known critic of the House of Representatives and the Marcos administration, claimed that members of Congress divided among themselves portions of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) school building program in 2024.

She made this claim amid intensifying public anger at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and solons over alleged anomalous and "ghost" flood control projects.

There's also the persisting problem of classroom shortage, which the lady official faced as DepEd secretary from June 2022 to July 2024.

Abante said the Vice President must recognize the constitutional authority of Congress to examine appropriations and not make sweeping accusations without documentary proof.

“Ang nais natin lamang sa kanyang sinasabi that she would produce evidences no. Bigyan niya kami ng mga ebidensya ng mga sinabi niya tungkol sa mga bagay na ito. And let Congress investigate and review it, meron naman tayong oversight committees to that eh, ‘di ba,” he added.

(All we’re asking from what she said is that she produce evidence, right? Let her give us proof of the things she claimed about these matters. And let Congress investigate and review it, we do have oversight committees for that, don’t we?)

Abante underscored that general claims without supporting documentation unfairly cast suspicion on the institution and its members.

For him, any credible allegation of wrongdoing must be brought before Congress and tested within the framework of accountability.

“I mean hindi naman pwedeng bigla kang magsasalita in a general term na wala ka namang ipo-produce na mga ebidensya. We’d like some evidences to be shown, di ba. And I would like just the VP to realize that sina-submit lamang sa amin ang pondo na dapat naming imbestigahan and that is the right of the Congress to do that,” Abante said.

(I mean, you can’t just suddenly speak in general terms without presenting any evidence. We’d like to see some proof, right? And I would just like the Vice President to realize that the funds are merely submitted to us for investigation and that it is Congress’s right to do that.)

The House of Representatives had just wrapped up its second week of budget deliberations on the P6.793-trillion NEP for 2026. The NEP, which emanates from Malacañang, is the basis of the annual national budget.