House Speaks on VP Sara Duterte Office’s Budget for 2025
SARA DUTERTE’S OFFICE – The House Appropriations Committee said that the P1.3 Billion budget cut for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) 2025 budget is final.
The deliberations of the 2025 budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President was controversial. Vice Pres. Duterte was involved in heated exchange of remarks with Senator Risa Hontiveros and the members of the House.
Duterte’s office sought for a P2-billion budget for 2025. According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the budget proposal of the OVP does not include Confidential Funds.
The OVP was controversial for its spending of its 2022 confidential fund. During the House deliberation of the 2025 proposed budget of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, she was asked about the spending of her office but she refused to answer it.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte got into a spar with ACT Teacher’s Partylist Representative France Castro during the budget proposal deliberation. The deliberation was rescheduled but the Vice President ditched the resumption of the deliberation.
There were other inquiries set by the House that were snubbed by the Vice President. It left several House members disappointed and it sparked rumors of defunding the OVP.
Previously, the lower chamber of the Congress revealed its decision to give the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte a P733 million budget for the 2025. It slashed P1.3 billion from the P2-billion budget proposal of the OVP.
Recently, the House Appropriations Committee spoke on its final decision on the budget of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte for 2025. Based on a report on the Philippine Star, the administration and opposition lawmakers in the House stood by its earlier decision to slash P1.3 billion from the budget proposal of the OVP.
According to Ako Bicol party-list Representative Zaldy Co who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, the P1.3-billion budget cut will be re-allocated to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Health (DOH).
Co said that the decision is from the concensus among the four (4) members of the Committee on House Appropriations. Based on the report, a total of Php 646.5 million will be allocated in the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program. Another Php 646.5 will be given for the Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program of the DOH.