FACT CHECK: Vietnam envoy’s visit to Sara Duterte not related to OVP budget cuts

Claim: Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh paid a visit and extended his support to Vice President Sara Duterte amid the proposed cuts to her office’s 2025 budget. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The September 14 video uploaded on YouTube has 176,542 views, 11,000 likes, and 1,195 comments as of writing. The channel that published the video currently has 965,000 subscribers. 

In its title and thumbnail, the video implies that the Vietnamese ambassador has joined forces with Duterte amid the budget controversies surrounding the Office of the Vice President (OVP).  

The narrator says that despite efforts by some officials in the administration to humiliate and attack Duterte, foreign leaders such as the Vietnamese envoy continue to hold the Vice President in high regard and have expressed their support for her. 

The facts: The embassy of Vietnam told Rappler via email that Binh paid Duterte a visit to discuss ongoing cooperation between Vietnam and the Philippines.

“Their conversation touched on strengthening bilateral relations in key areas such as education, local government collaboration, and foreign investment, all built upon the strong diplomatic ties between the two nations,” the embassy said.

In a Facebook post, Duterte also simply thanked Vietnam for its active cooperation with the Philippines on education and the good diplomatic relations between the two countries. Duterte said nothing that supports the claim.

The YouTube video did not provide information to support the claim; instead, it discussed unrelated topics like the OVP’s social relief efforts and commentary from vloggers on the proposed cuts to the OVP’s 2025 budget. 

The same YouTube channel also posted a similar misleading video, this time citing the Sri Lankan envoy.

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OVP budget cuts: On September 12, the House appropriations committee recommended reducing the OVP’s 2025 budget to P733.198 million, P1.3 billion less than what Duterte originally asked for. This came after Duterte repeatedly refused to answer questions and engaged in heated exchanges with lawmakers scrutinizing her budget. (READ: Sara vs the House: Inside the ugliest live political feud of the Marcos era)  

On September 16, the House began plenary deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget, allowing the entire chamber to debate and amend the budget. Deliberations on the OVP’s budget scheduled earlier on Monday, September 23, saw a still absent Sara Duterte.

After previously snubbing the second round of committee-level budget deliberations for her agency, the Vice President made a surprise appearance at a House hearing on her office’s use of public funds on Wednesday, September 18. However, she refused to take an oath, questioned the legitimacy of the hearing, and left before lawmakers questioned her. – Ramon Franco Verano/Rappler.com

Ramon Franco Verano is a Rappler volunteer. He is a fourth year History student at the University of Santo Tomas. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

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