Ranking House members urged Vice President Sara Duterte to “face the music” instead of diverting public attention from her office’s spending issues.
They slammed Duterte after a lengthy press briefing, a big portion of which attacked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In a press release, House Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe said Duterte should take responsibility for the supposed misuse of funds as vice president and education chief.
On Thursday, lawmakers questioned Duterte’s spending of P16 million in 11 days in 2022 for the rental of safe houses used for the agency’s initiatives and confidence building. This was part of the agency’s controversial P125-million confidential funds.
They also said the Department of Education under Duterte’s leadership, falsely claimed to have used its confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) for youth leadership summits, which the vice president denied.
“Instead of addressing these serious allegations, she’s attacking others. The education system declined under her leadership, and public funds were mishandled,” said Dalipe.
Senior Deputy Speaker Dong Gonzales said Duterte must explain her CIF spending.
“This is not the time for deflections or personal attacks,” he said.
France Castro, Duterte’s vocal critic and ACT Teacher’s party-list representative, demanded accountability from the vice president instead of giving “trash talk.”
“Vice President Sara Duterte chooses to engage in theatrics and gossip, rather than facing the congressional committee to provide a transparent account of how the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd were utilized,” she said.
Duterte has claimed a House-led impeachment move against her, which lawmakers have denied.
