Sara: I’m not a spoiled brat

MANILA, Philippines — She was not being a “spoiled brat” when she took a hostile approach to lawmakers’ questions during deliberations on the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s proposed P2.037-billion funding for 2025, according to Vice President Sara Duterte.

Stressing that her stonewalling of the OVP’s budget hearing was her response to what she anticipated as a political sideshow for lawmakers to “attack” her, Duterte said her critics misunderstood her behavior during the deliberations.

In her appearances at the budget hearings before the Senate and the House of Representatives, Duterte turned hostile when questioned about how the OVP had spent its funds in the previous years.

Lawmakers and critics found her demeanor “disrespectful” to the basic principles of check and balance enshrined in the Constitution.

“I’ve been accustomed to answer questions, that’s why I give chance interviews to the media. The public knows I’m not a ‘bratinella’ or a spoiled brat… I suppose some members of the House of Representatives just aren’t accustomed to not getting what they want and the answers they want to hear,” Duterte said in an interview taped last week and distributed by the OVP yesterday.

“Our representatives are not accustomed to people retaliating against their verbal attacks. So I think the ‘spoiled brat’ rhetoric is part of their attack that goes: ‘Oh, she’s a brat,’ even if I answered their questions. They probably just didn’t like my answers,” she added.

Citing audit reports that flagged irregularities and mismanaged funds, lawmakers at the House voiced their concerns about how Duterte’s offices spent their resources for government services.

Among the top concerns were the P73 million of the P125-million OVP confidential funds that the Commission on Audit flagged in 2022.

Duterte has never kept secret her contempt of the House of Representatives, the epicenter of her rift with the Marcos family and their allies.

The Vice President, however, said she still acknowledges Congress’ power of the purse.

“That’s why we have budget hearings… We acknowledge that power that’s why we went to the Senate and House of Representatives hearings to present our budget