President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. clarified on Wednesday that there is no political agenda involved in the budget hearings for the Office of the Vice President (OVP), countering claims by Vice President Sara Duterte that the deliberations on her office’s budget were being politicized.
Marcos emphasized that the budget hearings are a routine procedure conducted for every government agency. “This is a budget hearing… This is something that every single government agency has to do. It’s a hearing; there’s no politics in it. We do it every year with the same department. That process is well established and has nothing to do with politics,” Marcos stated in an interview.
He further explained that the hearings are intended as an “information gathering exercise” for both the House and the Senate to understand the financial allocations and needs of various government offices. “So, malayo sa politika ‘yun,” he added, reiterating that politics is far removed from the process.
The remarks come amid a heated exchange between Vice President Duterte and Senator Risa Hontiveros during a Senate Finance subcommittee hearing on the OVP’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025. Hontiveros questioned the overlap of some OVP programs with existing programs from other government agencies.
In the House of Representatives, the committee on appropriations has postponed deliberations on the OVP’s proposed budget for next year, following Vice President Duterte’s refusal to clarify how her office utilized its funds. The budget hearings have been rescheduled for September 10.
Vice President Duterte has maintained that there was no misuse of the OVP’s confidential funds in 2022, despite criticisms from House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro. Castro argued that Duterte’s alleged failure to comply with the rules concerning the P73 million in confidential funds for 2022 could be grounds for impeachment.