Sixteen minutes.
That was roughly how long the Senate finance panel took to endorse the Office of the Vice President’s proposed ₱785.204-million 2027 budget for plenary consideration.
The amount is actually ₱104 million, or 11.7 percent, lower than the OVP’s 2026 appropriation. The proposal also reportedly contains no confidential funds.
Those facts deserve recognition.
But so does this question:
Was sixteen minutes enough to meaningfully scrutinize ₱785 million in public money?
The hearing ended after Senator Imee Marcos moved to extend parliamentary courtesy to the OVP, with Senator Bong Go seconding the motion. No senator objected.
To be clear, the committee’s action was not final approval of the budget. The proposal still goes to plenary deliberations and the succeeding stages of the national budget process.
Nor does a short hearing, by itself, prove that senators failed in their duty. Budget documents may have been reviewed beforehand, and OVP officials were present to answer questions.
But public accountability is not measured only by whether a procedure was technically completed.
It is also measured by whether the public sees its representatives seriously examining how taxpayers’ money will be spent.
What programs will ₱785 million fund?
How many Filipinos will benefit?
How were previous appropriations used?
What worked, what did not, and why is this amount necessary?
These are not political questions.
They are taxpayer questions.
And this principle should apply regardless of who occupies the Office of the Vice President.
If parliamentary courtesy is appropriate for an administration we support today, it must remain appropriate when the political tables turn tomorrow. Otherwise, courtesy becomes selective—and accountability becomes political.
Congress has separate constitutional responsibilities: it must observe due process in the impeachment proceeding while also exercising meaningful oversight over public funds.
The two should never be confused.
Nor should budget deliberations become another political battlefield.
The Senate still has the opportunity during plenary to ask the hard but necessary questions.
Not to embarrass the Vice President.
Not to prejudge her impeachment case.
But to make sure that ₱785 million of Filipino taxpayers’ money is supported by clear priorities, defensible programs and measurable public benefit.
Because parliamentary courtesy may be extended to public officials.
Public money deserves something more: scrutiny.
And perhaps the simplest rule of all is this:
Courtesy is optional. Accountability is not
