Admin did not abandon OVP — Palace

THE PRESIDENTIAL Communications Office (PCO) on Monday countered Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s claim that the Marcos administration has abandoned her office, arguing the agency was given opportunities to justify its request for more funding this year.

This comes after the Vice President, who was impeached by the House of Representatives and faces an impeachment trial before the Senate, accused the government of abandoning her office at an event for overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

“The government did not abandon Office of the Vice-President,” PCO Undersecretary Claire A. Castro told a news briefing.

“There was no obstruction in providing the appropriate budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP), if she could justify it.”

Lawmakers earlier cut the OVP budget this year to about P733 million from the P2.06 billion under the National Expenditure Program.

The House of Representatives impeached Ms. Duterte before it went on a four-month break on Feb. 5, alleging misuse of secret funds, unexplained wealth, acts of destabilization, and plotting the assassination of the President, the First Lady and the Speaker.

The Impeachment complaint was filed and signed by more than 200 congressmen, more than the one-third legal requirement before it could be sent to the Senate, which will try her as an impeachment court. Under the 1987 Constitution, several congressmen will be serving as impeachment prosecutors. — John Victor D. Ordoñez