VP Sara: Comparing 2025 OVP budget with Robredo's time is absurd

Vice President Sara Duterte said the proposed P2 billion budget of her office for 2025 should not be compared to that of her predecessor, former Vice President Leni Robredo.

“It my belief that it will be a stretch, if not absurd, to compare the budget of my immediate predecessor to the present budget proposal,” Duterte said during the budget hearing at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.  

“We do not have personal knowledge as to why she did not request for a fair budget for her projects,” she added.

The OVP was allocated P712 million in 2022, the last year of Robredo in office. Her term ended on June 30, 2022.

The highest budget the OVP under Robredo got was P900 million in 2021.

The OVP under Duterte received P2.3 billion budget in 2023 and P1.87 billion in 2024.

Duterte did not identify the groups or individuals comparing her budget to that of Robredo but House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro earlier called out Duterte for having 433 personnel for the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), based on the 2022 Commission on Audit annual audit report on the OVP.

Robredo only had 78 security detail, based on COA's annual audit report in 2021.

"Katakot takot itong security, isang batalyon. Unprecedented itong dami ng security ng Vice President. Ano ba siya, insecure (She has loads of security, a battalion. This is unprecedented. Is she insecure)?" Castro said in September 2023.

The OVP earlier defended the huge security contingent for Duterte, saying COA did not provide adverse opinion on the said number of security personnel. 

But on Tuesday, the Vice President also defended the huge number of her security personnel.

“On the issue of security personnel, it must be clarified that during the time of my predecessor, the protection team was only limited to the Vice Presidential Security Detachment. During my term, however, there were legal issuances made by the PNP, AFP, and NAPOLCOM for the creation of the AFP Vice-Presidential Security and Protection Group and the PNP Vice-Presidential Protection Division,” Duterte said.

PNP is the Philippine National Police, while AFP is the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Napolcom is the National Police Commission.

“It must also be clarified that the number of security personnel is not determined by the OVP. We are mere recipients of the security personnel detailed to the office. To date, there are no more PNP personnel in the OVP,” Duterte added.

The House committee on appropriations deferred the deliberations of OVP's proposed budget amid the refusal of Duterte to answer how her office uses its budget.

The OVP said Wednesday it would reach out to the office of Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong, the designated sponsor of its budget in the House plenary,—AOL, GMA Integrated News