VP Sara: I’m not a brat, solons just don’t like my answers

FILE PHOTO: Vice President Sara Duterte speaks during the hearing of the House committee on appropriations on the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) on August 27, 2024. | SCREENGRAB FROM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VIDEO

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte brushed off being called a brat and thought such labels against her were part of attacks from political opponents and critics.

In a video of an interview shared by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to members of the media on Monday, Duterte maintained that she responded to every question thrown at her regarding her office’s 2025 budget proposal – but that lawmakers simply did not like her replies.

The OVP did not give more details about the interview – like who interviewed Duterte and why was she interviewed – and only said that it happened in Manila on September 4, 2024.

READ: Sara Duterte’s secret fund spending ‘a violation twice over’

“Sa palagay ko, hindi lang sanay ang iilan na mga miyembro ng House of Representatives na hindi nila makuha ‘yung gusto nila at gusto nilang marinig na sagot,” Duterte said.

(I guess some members of the House of Representatives are just not used to not getting what they want and they want to hear as an answer.)

READ: OVP says it didn’t request confidential funds for 2025

“At hindi sanay ‘yung mga iilan na mga representatives natin na sinasagot sila sa kanilang mga patutsada. Kaya sa tingin ko, isa din itong parang atake din nila na parang: ‘Oh, bratinella ‘yan,’ kahit na sumagot naman ako. Hindi nga lang sa gusto nila,” she added.

(And those few of our representatives are not used to being answered in their questions. So I think it’s also like an attack by them like: ‘Oh, that’s a bratinella,’ even though I answered. It’s not just what they want.)

READ: VP Sara Duterte: Secret funds’ critics ‘enemies of the people’

2025 budget

Vice President Duterte repeated her earlier statement that she deliberately passed up on queries during the House deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget of the OVP to defend herself from political attacks.

“Oo, kasi sinasabi ko paulit-ulit ‘yun na sina-submit namin sa Congress, ang budget ng Office of the Vice President, at iniiwan namin sa Kongreso ang desisyon kung ano ang gagawin nila para sa Office of the Vice President. Kaya, fino-forego na namin ‘yung question and answer,” she said.

(Yes, because I keep saying that we submit to Congress the budget of the Office of the Vice President, and we leave it to Congress to decide what they will do for the Office of the Vice President. So, we were trying to forgo the question and answer.)

“Unang-una, dahil nakikita namin na ginagamit siya ng ibang mga miyembro, iilan na mga miyembro ng Kongreso para umatake sa akin dahil hindi kami magkasama sa pulitika. Pangalawa, kasi ang budget ng Pilipinas ay hawak lang ng dalawang tao,” she added.

(First of all, because we see that it is being used by other members, some members of Congress to attack me because we are not together politically. Second, because the budget of the Philippines is only held by two people.)

Political attacks

Duterte, however, did not elaborate on this last remark, including what she meant by the budget being “held by two people.” But she acknowledged that deliberations on the proposed budgets of government agencies, including OVP, are within the powers of Congress – that’s why she still decided to attend the hearing despite expecting “political attacks.”

“Kinikilala natin ‘yan kaya nga pumunta tayo doon sa Senate hearing. Pumunta tayo doon sa House of Representatives na hearing dahil nagpresenta tayo ng budget. Ang ginawa ko lang ay sinabi ko na i-forego namin ‘yung question and answer na parte ng budget hearing,” she said.

(We recognize that, that’s why we went to the Senate hearing. We went there to the House of Representatives hearing because we presented the budget. All I did was I said that we will forgo the question and answer that is part of the budget hearing.)

During the House deliberations on the OVP’s 2025 budget request which lasted for five hours, Duterte repeatedly evaded responding to most of the concerns raised about her office’s expenditures of past budgets and spending plan for next year.

For the majority of the interpolation, Duterte merely responded: “I would like to forego the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format. I will leave it up to the House to decide on the budget submitted.”