MANILA – Malacañang on Monday reacted on Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s claim that the government has abandoned the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
According to Presidential Communications Office’s Undersecretary Claire Castro, it was Duterte-Carpio who left the government when she resigned from her Cabinet posts.
Duterte-Carpio tendered her resignation from her Cabinet posts in the Department of Education (DepEd) and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) last year.
“Wala pong nang-iwan sa kanya, baka po siya ang nang-iwan sa gobyerno,” Castro said in a media briefing at the Malacañang Palace.
Castro added that the Vice President was given enough time to explain and defend her office’s proposed budget before the House of Representatives, but she opted not to answer.
At a thanksgiving event with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) at Wan Chai in Hong Kong on Sunday, Duterte-Carpio said she cannot leave her position as Vice President because of her supporters even if the government has abandoned her.
“Salamat sa suporta ninyo sa akin, sa aking mga kasamahan, sa aming trabaho, sa programa at proyekto ng Office of the Vice President. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat…dahil kayo lang sumusuporta sa OVP, ang buong gobyerno ay iniwanan na po ang OVP,” Duterte-Carpio said.
To recall, the OVP was allocated a P733.1-million budget under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), a big cut from the originally proposed P2-billion budget.
With this, the OVP said it was expected to discontinue providing medical and burial assistance this year as no budget was approved for the program./PN
