Office of the Vice President budget sponsor Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez approaches Vice President Sara Duterte upon her arrival at the House appropriations committee hearing on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. — Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
MANILA: Vice President Sara Duterte waived the parliamentary courtesy usually accorded to her by members of the House of Representatives committee on appropriations, allowing questions from the minority lawmakers.
At the appropriations hearing on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) proposed 2026 budget, Duterte permitted ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio to question her on low obligation rates and the disallowed OVP confidential funds.
Parliamentary courtesy was a hot topic when the OVP budget was supposed to be discussed last Friday (Sept 12), when the minority, through Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Caloocan 2nd District Representative Edgar Erice, joined the majority and agreed to extend the tradition to high-ranking officials.
Tinio objected, arguing that while courtesy is a tradition, current times call for waiving it so Duterte can answer questions about her office’s budget.
According to Tinio, Duterte has to answer several key questions as to the identity of Mary Grace Piattos, who signed several acknowledgement receipts for the OVP confidential fund expenditures.
Piattos, along with other weird names, could not be found in the Philippine Statistics Authority database for live birth, marriage, and death registry.
Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab then explained that parliamentary courtesy exists because lawmakers often find it difficult to directly question top government officials such as the president or the vice president.
“Just to explain the rationale why we do give this parliamentary courtesy to a co-equal branch of the government […] Parliamentary courtesy is only granted at the committee level. Why? The reason is, we give parliamentary courtesy as a co-equal because we give respect to a co-equal or a higher position of government,” Ungab said.
“If used through a layman’s interpretation, it is really, I would say, awkward for a member of Congress to question the highest, a higher officer directly. But on the plenary floor, we can do that because questions will be raised between congressman to congressman. That’s really the rationale here,” he added.
Earlier, Duterte showed up alone at the budget deliberations, fulfilling a commitment made to one of the panel’s officials.
Duterte sat alone in a row reserved for OVP officials after entering the Romualdez hall at 9:17 a.m. She was first approached by committee chairperson and Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing and OVP budget sponsor Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez.
Alvarez announced last Friday — the original schedule for OVP’s budget deliberations — that Duterte would personally attend on Tuesday. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
