Philippines VP Sara Duterte ‘goes on offensive’ in budget hearing. Did it work?
Her combative attitude signalled that she was ready to shed the softer image she had cultivated since becoming vice-president, analysts say
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio was defiant while defending her office budget for next year, in a Tuesday hearing in the House of Representatives, refusing to answer most questions while accusing lawmakers of gathering evidence for an impeachment case against her.
Her combative attitude in the hearing signalled that Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, was ready to shed the softer image she had cultivated since becoming vice-president, in favour of the “tough, macho” style her family is famous for, analysts say.
During her introductory statement, Duterte-Carpio warned that she was privy to some lawmakers’ secrets but “as a friend, I will not violate the confidence of a few members of the House of Representatives who have either recorded conversations or took part in shared conversations regarding each impeachment proceedings against me”.
In the hearing, she read a reply from her mobile phone multiple times: “I will forgo the opportunity to defend the Office of the Vice-President 2025 Budget Proposal by question and answer, and I will leave it to the House of Representatives to decide on the proposal as presented.”
Duterte-Carpio was questioned on the alleged misuse of confidential funds used by her office in 2022. The funds were reportedly spent on various items, including rewards and supplies, but lacked proper documentation.
The vice-president has been in the spotlight since she resigned in June from President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s cabinet, turning the two families’ alliance into bitter rivalry as both sides seek to strengthen their coalitions ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Duterte-Carpio came to the House prepared for a “hostile crowd, so she went on the offensive. Another tactic she used was playing the victim, saying she is being crucified”, political risk analyst Ronald Llamas said.
“Her congressional allies like former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo tried to shut down all questions on the confidential funds but their efforts weren’t sustained. Eventually, the tide turned against her,” said Llamas, former presidential adviser on political affairs for late president Benigno Aquino III.
Former congressman Barry Gutierrez told This Week in Asia on Wednesday there were several reasons for her combative behaviour. “She knew going into the hearing there were plenty of issues to which she was vulnerable … so she decided that the best path forward would be to avoid all questions.”
It’s time for Sara to double down on the tough, macho Duterte persona
In the House hearing, she had shed the “softened image” she had cultivated since assuming office, which led to “declining public support and a siege” from their former allies in the coalition that led to her and Marcos Jnr’s victory in the 2022 election, Gutierrez said.
“It’s time for Sara to double down on the tough, macho Duterte persona,” he said.
“They’re going back to what they know best, the brand that won them 2016 [when her father won the presidency] and sustained them through six years of bad governance. Expect that she will sustain this ‘fighting’ persona moving forward,” he said.
Netizens both lauded and slammed her defiance in the House. Pro-Duterte blogger Mocha Uson posted on Facebook, “They can’t fool Inday [Sara Duterte], That’s why they are so pissed off”, while financial technology director Anthony Bendo wrote on X “what curse had been cast on the country to have someone like her elected to office”.
Analyst Llamas was also “amazed” by her behaviour in the House. When lawmakers of left-wing party-list groups tried to grill her on how she depleted confidential funds, Duterte-Carpio asked why she was questioned by “convicted child abuser” Frances Castro of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, and by “communist terrorist” Raoul Manuel of the Kabataan (Youth).
Committee members subsequently voted to strike off her statements against Castro and Manuel from the record, but to retain Castro’s statement accusing Duterte-Carpio of using “squid tactics” to obfuscate proceedings.
Because of the “disrespect” that the vice-president showed, Congressman Benny Abante suspended the hearing without approving her budget and Congresswoman Stella Quimbo – whom Duterte-Carpio tried to unseat as the subcommittee chair – set another hearing for next month. Llamas said this was unprecedented since the vice-president is normally given the courtesy of a swift budget approval.
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History, money and military: why the South China Sea is so important to Beijing
Breaking her silence
During Tuesday’s hearing, Duterte-Carpio also broke her silence on China’s aggressive tactics against the Philippines in the South China Sea, after her reluctance to speak on the conflict led many Filipinos to call her a “traitor”.
On the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s term for parts of the South China Sea that it claims as its maritime territory – “we must also bear in mind that bilateral relations are not dictated by a singular issue or concern like a territorial dispute. But rather, by a comprehensive approach that considers the broader context of shared interests and regional stability”, she said.
But it was not within her “mandate” as vice-president to comment on the ramming and collision incidents involving Chinese and Philippine vessels, she said, as the president was the “chief architect” of foreign policy.
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who has made the issue his advocacy, told This Week in Asia on Wednesday the vice-president should “unequivocally condemn the acts of the Chinese coastguard in ramming and water cannoning Philippine coastguard vessels in our own exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea”.
“Unlike many other Filipino public officials and private citizens, she has failed to condemn these illegal actions of China,” Carpio said.
