The menu for attendees of the House panel deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President earned buzz among Filipinos.
Lawmakers and guests who attended the House Committee on Appropriations‘ second deliberation on Tuesday, September 10 were served squid or “pusit” for breakfast and lunch by the House of Representatives’ catering staff.
For breakfast, guests, including reporters, were served chocolate porridge or “champorado” with condensed milk and a side dish of dried squid.
Meanwhile, lunch consisted of baby squid sauteed in garlic with paella negra — a Spanish rice meal with squid.
The meal was also accompanied by pesto pasta and chicken and fish meat, as well as a chocolate brownie.
Among those who noticed the squid-themed menu was Rep. France Castro (ACT Teacher party-list), who previously likened Vice President Sara Duterte to the sea creature that releases ink whenever it feels threatened.
She also released a food review on her social media accounts, saying that it was “delicious.”
“Ang sarap! Sana pala meron ding inihaw na pusit,” Castro said in a video.
“Habang hindi dumalo sa sarili niyang budget hearing ang bise presidente na si Sara Duterte, naghain naman ang House of Representatives para sa mga dumalo sa hearing,” the lawmaker said.
The squid menu also caught the attention of other Filipinos.
“Hahahahahaah. The shade,” an online user commented.
“Laroshiee, lavettt! Puksaan to the max,” another Pinoy exclaimed with a laughing emoji.
“Literal na, she ate pusit!” wrote a different user.
Duterte, however, was unable to experience the squid meals as no one from the OVP attended the budget deliberations.
She did not send any representative as well.
In a letter sent to House Speaker Martin Romualdez on the same day, the vice president said she had already submitted her office’s “detailed presentation” on their proposed 2025 budget to the House panel.
“We defer entirely to the discretion and judgment of the Committee regarding our budget proposal for the upcoming year,” Duterte wrote.
Despite being a no-show, the House continued their interpellation on the OVP’s 2025 budget, questioning only resource persons from the Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management.
The House committee previously deferred the budget hearing on August 27 due to Duterte’s unwillingness to directly answer lawmakers’ questions.
This was sparked by the COA’s report that the OVP spent P125 million confidential funds in 11 days.
The OVP is proposing a P2.037 billion budget for 2025, which is 8% higher than last year’s budget.
The ‘squid’ comment
In the first budget deliberations, Castro compared Duterte to a squid spewing black ink when she pressed the vice president about COA’s notice of disallowance issued to the OVP in 2022 regarding the office’s P73-million confidential fund expenditure out of P125 million.
“Ang notice of disallowance, siyempre papaliwanag pa nila ‘yan paano… Kailangan ‘yan mapaliwanag. So, hindi pwede ‘yung tactics na ganyan na parang, sorry for the pusit, na parang kapag nasusukol na ay [maglalabas] ng maitim na tinta,” the lawmaker said before.
“So huwag naman mag-ugaling pusit ang Office of the Vice President,” Castro added.
Duterte later said she felt “crucified” for being reprimanded for mentioning Castro’s recent conviction in a child abuse case when she herself was described as a “squid.”
The incident has prompted some Filipinos to make the hashtag “#ZeroBudgetforOVP” trend on the X (formerly Twitter) platform before following the vice president’s inability to explain her office’s proposed budget amounting to billions.
RELATED: ‘#ZeroBudgetforOVP’ trends after tension erupts in OVP budget hearing
Before the approval of the General Appropriations Act, both chambers of the Congress conduct budget hearings to allow government agencies to explain the details of their proposed funds.
It enables transparency and accountability, traits that are included in administrations practicing good governance.
