MANILA – Malacañang asserted on Monday (10 Mar 2025) that Vice President Sara Z. Duterte was the one who distanced herself from the government, contradicting her recent claims that the administration turned its back on the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro addressed Duterte’s statements made over the weekend during an event in Hong Kong, where the Vice President alleged that the government had left the OVP behind.
Castro emphasized that the Vice President had been given the opportunity to defend her proposed 2025 budget before lawmakers. However, Duterte skipped the plenary deliberations at the House of Representatives, leading to a reduction in the OVP’s budget allocation.
“That’s what they want people to believe—that the OVP is pitiful and that we should feel sorry for the Vice President,” Castro said.
“Let’s be clear, she was given the chance to defend her proposed budget. The government didn’t block her from receiving the appropriate budget for the OVP, provided she could justify it,” she added.
Castro underscored that it was Duterte’s responsibility to properly defend the OVP’s budget in order for it to be approved.
“It’s like submitting a thesis—you must defend it. You can’t just tell your panel, ‘Here’s my thesis, you decide my grade,’” she explained.
Castro concluded by stressing that it was the Vice President who had distanced herself from the administration.
“No one left her. It was she who abandoned the government,” Castro stated.
ia/mnm
