Sara Duterte Says Around 200 OVP Staff May Lose Job under P733 Million Budget in 2025

Senate Adopts P733 Million House Budget Appropriation for VP Sara Duterte Office in 2025

SARA DUTERTE – Amid the P733 million budget appropriated by the House for the OVP in 2025, the Vice President said that around 200 staff may lose their job.

For 2025, the Office of the Vice President requested for a P2 billion budget from the government. The said budget proposal does not include Confidential Funds according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). However, the approved budget by the House for the OVP is far from its requested fund for 2025.

The House of Representatives decided to make a P1.3 billion budget cut for Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office. The decision to appropriate P733 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was tagged final by the House.

The verdict of the House came after Duterte skipped several hearings intended for the deliberation of the OVP budget proposal. According to the Vice President, she has already presented her take on the issues surrounding the budget proposal of her office.

Duterte also previously claimed that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) will continue to operate regardless of the amount of the budget granted to the office. The Vice President said that the OVP is just a small office.

The defense of the Vice President triggered a question from many netizens as to why the OVP is asking for P2 billion when it is only a small office. Aside from the skipping the hearing over the 2025 budget proposal of the OVP, Duterte also snubbed the hearing intended to discuss the budget utilization of her office.

The Senate gave Vice Pres. Duterte the chance to support her office’s P2 billion-budget proposal. However, the Vice President did not respond. According to Senator Grace Poe, the Senate panel has decided to adopt the P733 million-budget appropriated by the House for the OVP.

Recently, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte spoke on the possible impact of the P733 million for the OVP in 2025. Based on a report on GMA News Balitambayan, the Vice President claimed that around 200 staff of her office may lose their job due to the reduced budget.

The P733 million allotted by the House for the OVP is already inclusive of the amount intended for the office in dealing with the rising inflation in the country. Last week, Vice Pres. Duterte came to the House Quad Committee hearing in which former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte was one of the resource speakers.

Duterte was given the invitation for the next hearing on her office’s budget use. However, according to Vice Pres. Duterte, she will not attend the November 20 hearing saying that she already did before and she just sat there wasting time.