President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed that communication between him and Vice President Sara Duterte has ceased since she resigned from the Cabinet on June 19.
“There’s no communication. No, none at all. None at all. The last time I spoke to her was when she handed me her resignation. We haven’t spoken since,” Mr. Marcos said in an interview.
The relationship between the President and Vice President soured after the former had a word war with the latter’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Vice President said she regretted campaigning for Mr. Marcos to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) in the 2022 elections. She then issued an apology to KOJC members, following police operations in the KOJC compound to arrest fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
“That’s her prerogative… I still don’t understand why. That is her wish, there’s nothing we can do,” Mr. Marcos said of the Vice President’s move.
The Chief Executive also addressed speculation surrounding recent budget hearings on the Office of the Vice President (OVP), dismissing any political undertones in the process.
“It’s a hearing, there’s no politics in it. We do it every year… That process is well established, it has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the budget,” Mr. Marcos said.
An administration lawmaker meanwhile challenged Vice President Duterte to prove where and how her office spent billions in funds for socio-economic programs last year and this year.
In a privilege speech, Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano also criticized the Vice President for the rude and disrespectful behavior she showed during the House Committee on Appropriations hearing on her 2025 P2.037 billion budget Tuesday last week.
Valeriano, chair the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, said if the Vice President cannot support her socio-economic program expenditures with evidence, people would suspect the funds had been wasted.
He said he was surprised to find out that Metro Manila was the focus of the spending despite Duterte being the Vice President of the entire nation.
“What is surprising about her budget for 2023, 2024, and 2025 is that why her aid programs are only reserved for the National Capital Region. As Chairman of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, I just wonder where in Metro Manila the billion funds of the Socioeconomic Programs of his office went,” the lawmaker said. “In their 2025 budget proposal, they have 977, 615 beneficiaries. Where are they? Is this all true and verified?”
He told his colleagues that according to the OVP, it signed 793 “strategic partnerships” for implementing its programs in 2023.
“Where is the list of strategic partnerships and strategic partnership agreements? And when there is no real list of beneficiaries and document of strategic partnership, it is not far off for the people to suspect that the public fund has been lost, maybe for the time to come.”
He lamented that instead of explaining her programs and where the funds were spent in last week’s hearing, the Vice President repeatedly refused to answer questions and showed hostility toward House members.
He reminded the Vice President that the appropriations for her office come from taxpayers’ money and her expenditures are subject to scrutiny by Congress. He said the hostile, rude and disrespectful behavior exhibited by the Vice President last week is not typical of Filipino demeanor.
He added that it was cowardice on the part of Duterte to evade questioning by lawmakers who have the right and duty to ask questions about her budget.
