The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has suffered a significant budget cut after Vice President Sara Duterte failed to defend her office’s proposed P2.037 billion budget for the next year.
The House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations unanimously decided to reduce the OVP’s budget to P733 million, a decrease of P1.29 billion. The slashed funds will be reallocated to other agencies that will implement the OVP’s programs.
Marikina City Representative Stella Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the appropriations committee, emphasized the importance of agencies providing detailed information to justify their budget requests.
During the committee hearing, VP Duterte declined to explain the expenditures made in previous years and failed to justify the request for a larger budget in 2025.
When asked if VP Duterte’s refusal to answer questions during the hearing led to the budget cuts, Quimbo stated that the committee members simply did their job.
Regarding the possibility of the committee or the plenary changing the decision if the Vice President attends the plenary discussion on the proposed budget, Quimbo said, “Let’s see. I mean, we are open to anything. As I said, there’s another round of amendments (in plenary).”
Quimbo stressed that the committee’s decision to reduce a significant portion of the OVP’s budget was not an easy one. She explained that funds for OVP programs that had been flagged by the Commission on Audit for poor implementation were cut.
The committee, along with the CoA, found that the OVP’s social programs, such as providing financial assistance to the poor, were similar to the social protection programs implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH).
The appropriations committee reallocated the entire P947-million “financial assistance” fund and other reduced OVP budget to the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program and the DOH’s medical assistance program.