Ex-president Rodrigo Duterte (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB)

La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega believes that former president Rodrigo Duterte's claims of "‘blank appropriations’ in the P6.352-trillion national budget this year is ultimately designed to benefit his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. 

According to Ortega, the elder Duterte's allegations are a calculated move to push for the reinstatement of the Vice President’s P2-billion budget in 2024.

"This is a deliberate effort to mislead the public and manipulate the budget process to bring back the P2 billion fund previously allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP),” said the House deputy majority Leader.

As such, he dismissed the ex-president's criticisms on the 2025 spending plan as "pure disinformation" that Internet trolls exploit for their own purpose.

Ortega accused the ex-president of attempting to discredit the budget process in a bid to invalidate the 2025 budget and revert to the 2024 spending plan. This would automatically restore the bigger, P2-billion fund of the Vice President. 

“This sudden concern for budget integrity is laughable, especially given the unresolved corruption scandals during Duterte’s term, such as the Pharmally fiasco.This is nothing more than a desperate ploy to regain control over public funds," he said. 

With his "blank appropriations" or "blank budget" claims, ex-president Duterte is insinuating that the 2025 national budget--which lawmakers crafted---is full of irregularities. 

But Ortega said that the P6.352-trillion budget underwent a thorough and constitutional process and was signed into law without a hitch. 

“The so-called ‘blank allocations’ are a fabrication meant to sow confusion and undermine the administration’s commitment to fiscal transparency and accountability,” he said.

Congress significantly reduced the OVP’s budget in 2025, cutting it from P2 billion in 2024 to P733 million. He said the move was reflected the government’s commitment to transparency and responsible fiscal management.

“Let’s set the record straight–there are no blank allocations in the budget. The reductions made were necessary to ensure that government funds are properly utilized and directed to priority programs that benefit the Filipino people,” stressed Ortega, a "Young Guns" bloc member.

The La Union solon urged the public to be more discerning and vigilant against efforts to exploit the budget for personal or political gain.

“We will not let baseless accusations derail our efforts to provide quality services to Filipinos...[the] people deserve a government that works with integrity and transparency, not one that thrives on lies and deception,” Ortega said.