Marikina 2nd District Representative Stella Quimbo had the biggest moment of her political career in 2023 when she, unwittingly or not, became a key defender of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds — or at least the legality of the release of the budget to her office. 

One would think the Vice President would at least be grateful or respectful to the woman who absorbed the backlash from trying to take some of the heat away from her office. 

Not the audacious Duterte, who, on Tuesday, August 27, even tried to have Quimbo replaced as presiding officer of the House budget deliberations for the Office of the Vice President.

Quimbo is the senior vice chairperson of the appropriations committee, moderating discussions on the budget in the lower chamber. Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co leads the powerful panel, but he delegates the responsibility to preside over proceedings to Quimbo.

During Tuesday’s deliberations, Duterte wanted to “forgo the opportunity” to defend her budget via the question and answer format, but Quimbo did not allow her. This would be the first of the many tense interactions between the two during the five-hour hearing. 

“Magsasayang tayo ng oras dito, paulit-ulit ng sagot (We’re going to waste our time here, I’ll just give you the same response),” Duterte said, warning members that she would utter her same scripted answer throughout the hearing. 

“That is acceptable to us because karapatan ng bawat Pilipino na marinig nila ang katanungan ng 17 na nakalista ngayon (it is the right of every Filipino to hear the questions of 17 lawmakers who signed up for interpellation),” Quimbo said. 

Duterte constantly interrupted Quimbo, and accused the lawmaker of allowing Makabayan legislators to make “snide comments” against her. 

If this were any other hearing, any rude resource person would have been given a warning already, if not cited in contempt. 

“I don’t recall hearing a snide comment, Madam Vice President. A snide comment is a matter of judgment,” Quimbo said.

“Point of order, Madam Chair, kasi parang siya ‘yung nagpe-preside eh (it’s as if Duterte’s the presiding officer),” House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro added, a comment that drew knowing laughter from the crowd. 

Duterte then requested that Quimbo be replaced with Representative Co as presiding officer, which, obviously, Quimbo did not allow.

“May I remind also our resource persons to please act in a respectful manner. Pasensiya na po, hindi po kasama sa poder ninyo ang pagfa-fire ng presiding officer ng hearing na ito,” Quimbo told Duterte. (I’m sorry to tell you, but you don’t have the power to fire the presiding officer.)

Sara on the offensive

The volatile atmosphere didn’t really die down. 

Later in the hearing, Duterte accused Quimbo of not staying true to her words when the lawmaker supposedly allowed fellow House colleagues to pounce on the Vice President’s confidential funds disbursement, based on numerous audit observation memoranda (AOM) from the Commission on Audit (COA). 

To be clear, Quimbo repeatedly insisted that it is within the House’s jurisdiction to scrutinize the OVP’s budget utilization not just in the current year, but also in preceding years. 

Duterte also took a trip down memory lane, recalling last year’s plenary deliberations, where it was revealed — during Castro’s interpellation of Quimbo as COA budget sponsor — that Duterte’s P125 million in confidential funds in 2022 was spent within 11 days, and not 19 days as earlier reported. 

“Tapos may lumabas ng AOM ng COA within days. Nakikita na namin iyong pattern of attacks. Kaya we decided within the Office of the Vice President na huwag nang dagdagan iyong bala ng attack,” Duterte claimed, accusing the chamber of a deliberate, systematic effort to malign her. 

(Then an AOM from COA was released days after. We saw the pattern of attacks, so we decided in the OVP not to give them more ammunition.)

Lawmakers denied an orchestrated attempt to bring Duterte down, and Quimbo also recalled that infamous moment in the plenary in September 2023.

“I want to state for the record, that was in no way a planned action on my part. That was the most difficult moment in my five years in Congress. Tinanong ako ng isang tanong (I was asked a question), I just had to say the truth,” Quimbo said of the moral dilemma she had upon learning that the OVP indeed swiftly exhausted millions of pesos in secret funds.

“Simula ng moment na iyon ay naging napakahirap ng buhay ko (My life became so difficult since that moment). No rational human being would want to plan her life that way,” Quimbo added, her voice cracking.

Allegiances

That emotional comment from Quimbo is consistent with what she told Rappler in an exclusive interview with this reporter in September 2023, after her perceived defense of Duterte prompted disappointment from opposition supporters who once viewed the Marikina lawmaker as one of them. 

“The entire world came after me. I was like, oh my God, what did I do, right?! And all of these unkind words!” Quimbo lamented at the time.

Quimbo did not like being tagged a “Duterte defender.” She said she defends policies, not personalities. Not in the eyes of Duterte though, who included Quimbo in the list of people “who stood by the OVP” in the confidential funds fiasco, and “for bravely and rationally facing a gang of individuals who has successfully mastered the art of fabricating lies.”

During that budget season, she had a heated exchange with Castro. Quimbo accused her fellow teacher-lawmaker at the time of inability to listen, which Castro did not take lightly.

This year, the tides have shifted. Since Duterte formally walked away from her 2022 alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., lawmakers in the House under the leadership of his cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez have become increasingly critical of the Vice President.

When Duterte insisted on Tuesday that the hearing should have no place for questions on her confidential funds (since her proposed 2025 budget no longer includes a line item for such), Castro argued: “Sa rule naman natin, lahat dito tinatanong eh, whether it’s in the past, kasi nakikita natin iyong utilization ng budget (In our rules, all questions can be asked, whether it’s pertaining to budgets in the past years, so we can evaluate utilization).”

“I will agree with you,” Quimbo told Castro. 

It’s a funny turnaround from last year’s events. Quimbo and Castro are now on the same side against the Vice President. 

That old saying rings true: no permanent enemies or friends in politics, indeed. – Rappler.com