By Karen Lema
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines’ lower house of congress has slashed funding for Vice President Sara Duterte by nearly two-thirds in the proposed 2025 budget, as a deep split between Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr looms over midterm elections next year.
The lower house, led by House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of the president, voted 285-3 late on Wednesday to approve budget spending of 6.352 trillion pesos ($113.5 billion) for 2025, a 10% increase over this year.
Funding for the vice president was cut by more than 1.3 billion pesos, leaving Duterte’s office with 733 million pesos.
“Our job will continue no matter what our budget is,” Duterte told reporters on Wednesday.
Romualdez said the proposed budget, which has to be reconciled with the Senate’s version, would be enough for the vice-president’s office to maintain its services.
Duterte appeared only once in the lower houses during budget deliberations, and pushed back strongly against scrutiny of her spending by some members of Congress. Her subsequent absences sparked criticism and calls from lawmakers to significantly reduce or cut her budget entirely.
“She was invited three times, but she did not show up,” Romualdez said. “As representatives of the people, we expect all public officials to fulfil their duties, especially when it comes to the national budget.”
The vice president holds a largely ceremonial role with no real power unless the president vacates office or appoints the vice president to a cabinet position. Duterte was the education secretary in Marcos’ cabinet, until she resigned in June.
Her resignation marked the collapse of what was once considered a formidable political alliance between two of the country’s most powerful dynasties that helped Marcos and Duterte secure their 2022 electoral victories.
Political observers said the budget cut may be more than just a response to her absence from hearings, reflecting the broader political feud between the two powerful families.
“It would be difficult to support the argument that the budget cut has nothing to do with the breakdown of the ‘Uniteam’,” said Ederson Tapia, professor of public administration at the University of Makati, referring to the Marcos-Duterte ticket.
“The battle lines have been drawn and I expect to see more skirmishes in the run up to the midterm elections and especially moving towards 2028 (presidential election),” Tapia added.
($1 = 55.9500 Philippine pesos)
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by John Mair)