Defining Moments In The OVP Budget Proposal

The unthinkable happened ... I mean in the budget hearing for the office of the Vice President. As we all know the OVP was asking for a 2 billion budget ... and what happened next was history.

What we saw was a comedy of errors ... a show made amusing or repulsive ... by bungling or incompetence of the central protagonists..  It was a forum some YouTube viewers  could not accept ... believe or imagine ... and some started asking:"Is this really happening?" It was so bad that one does not want to think about it. 

Consider these scenarios:

1. The Vice President refused to answer the question: "Saan mo ginamit ang 125 million pesos in 11 days?" Audience at home knew na ginagawa lang ng mga congressman ang trabaho nila. Repeated inquiries were made to squeeze Inday's honesty juices but they failed. This prompted a political luminary to say: " Para siyang pusit ... bakit? Kung nagigipit .... naglalabas ng tinta." Cephalopods normally use their ink to scare or distract predators so they can escape scot-free. 

2. Former president now Congressman Gloria Arroyo to show support to her ally (Inday) said that the budget proposal is for the year 2025. What happened in 2022 should not be compared to the future budgets. Did she feign ignorance here ... when it has been the norm for these hearings to go back to budgets in the past and make a comparative analysis. This is not new for crying out loud. Gloria knows that ... unless gusto lang niya pagtakpan ang isang kaibigan who can't do the math at nahirapan i-explain kung saan ginasta yong 125 M in 11 days time. 

3. Critics were wondering whose idea was it na gawing eksakto talaga ang nakalistang pinagkagastahan ng 125 M. Sa sobrang dishonesty ... they want to make people believe na honest sila ... mantakin mo naman ... they spent their midnight candle itemizing what they spent ... at ginawa talagang walang LABIS at walang KULANG ... 125 M talaga ang total. Kaya hindi sumasagot si Vice ... baka naman sa pagbukas ng kanyang bibig makahanap ng butas ang mga miyembro at doon pa sila mahuhuli at magisa sa sariling mantika.

4. Ito ang breakdown ng expenditures ng CONFIDENTIAL  and INTELLIGENCE fund: 14 M- purchase of information ... 10 M - payment of reward ... 16 M-rental houses, 35 M- supplies, 40 M - medical food expenses, 10 M - incentive travel. Wala man lang sobra... at wala man lang kulang? Basta ka na lang ba maniwala diyan? 

The same political luminary sarcastically answered: "You don't have to be intelligent to spend the intelligence fund. And how can expect VP to answer the question ... e di ba confidential yong confidential fund?

5. The 3-hour-long hearing was punctuated by interruptions from Inday ... Mister Chair ... Mister Chair ... Mister Chair. VP was in the driver's seat and it looked like she overshadowed the presiding officer Stella Quimbo. One Kibitzer commented: Why was she not in contempt ... like what happened to Harry Roque? Was it because of parliamentary courtesy dahil  Vice President siya?

6. The icing on the cake that fateful afternoon was when Vice President Inday suggested na palitan ang presiding officer that threw Stella Quimbo off her chair. In my book that was the height of disrespect and the honorable congressman was not prepared for it. Her voice quivering ... and her hand gestures show a woman in distress.

7. Inday to continue her onslaught also questioned some House rules. Imagine a resource person asking "what rules ba ang pinagbabasehan ninyo sa pagtatanong ninyo?"And also imagine ... para lang ma-evade and question does Unday have to resort to underhand tactics na magtaray, mambully or making some snide comments?

8. Inday also opened up the nagging question of whether Congress will impeach her. The "elephant in the house" was opened for YouTube viewers to see. This throws some members off-balance. But with the way, Inday acted and behaved in the hearing ... will this not let other members think ... that the idea may not be bad after all? Something like a self-fulfilling prophecy?

9. Another highlight of the tumultuous afternoon was when ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro asked Duterte regarding the use of the P125 million in confidential funds in 2022, which also included the disallowance of some P73 million due to "non-submission of documents" in a Commission on Audit report. Duterte later accused Castro of making a "snide" remark and asked the presiding chairman of the hearing to allow her to make a snide comment as well. She segued on trading more insults when she questioned why a convicted congressman was allowed in the hearing.

10. Congressman Raoul Castro continued his one-two-three-punch by expanding his inquiry ... from the 2022 confidential fund ... he expanded his questions on more questionable transactions while Inday was still the DepEd Secretary. Inday was ticked off and his vice-presidential wrath was redirected to the presiding officer: May I request Madam Chair that we will focus only our discussion on the budget of OVP? Since you allowed him to tread on DepEd matters, the department I am no longer connected, I am also inclined to say something not related to the budget. And she started painting Raoul RED explaining his connections with the NPA.

We were laughing because France Castro's voice was heard at the background and she said something like nag-maMaritess lang siya. Something to that effect.

11.  And then comes Inday's little accusations about some congressman laughing while she was talking. And she raised questions about conspiracy theories that there this SCRIPT being circulated to railroad OVP's budget for 2025. This really diminished the importance of the budget hearing ... while people at home are eager to know where their money went ... the discussion ... we saw instead our elected officials indulge in a childish verbal catfight.

 Coming alone in the hearing is maybe an intentional move and strategy for Inday. The optics of seeing her alone on the lonely bench has given her the guts to go jugular: "Marami kayo nag-iisa lang ako ..." She can always go and unleash the vice presidential fury  ... and go on the offensive ... dahil nag-iisa lang nga siya.

Or she did this para "kaawaan" making her utter another defining quote of the day... "Why do you crucify me? 

Was that line mean she wants the people to see na siya ay pinag-tulungan ng mga kongresista ... at kinukuyog?

And will the people fall on this scheme again?