Sara Duterte says OVP ready to work with 'zero' budget for 2025

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) can continue its work and operations even without a budget allocation for fiscal year 2025, Vice President Sara Duterte said.

Duterte made the remark amid talks that the House of Representatives will defund the OVP or reduce its proposed budget for next year, which she claimed as part of the “attacks” against her.

“Narinig din namin na mayroong defunding. I-defund daw ang Office of the Vice President budget. Narinig din namin na posibleng piso lang ang ibigay na budget sa Office of the Vice President,” she said in the third part of the recorded video interview shared by the OVP to members of the media on Wednesday.

(We also heard that there is defunding, that the budget of the Office of the Vice President will be defunded. We also heard that it is possible that they will only give P1 as a budget to the Office of the Vice President.)

“Handa kami. Handa ako sa Office of the Vice President na mag-trabaho kahit walang budget. Maliit lang ‘yung opisina namin. Maliit lang ‘yung operations namin kaya kayang-kaya namin na mag-trahabo kahit walang budget,” she added.

(We are ready. I am ready in the Office of the Vice President to work even without a budget. Our office is small. Our operations are small so we can afford to work even without a budget.)

According to the OVP, Duterte’s recorded interview was conducted on September 4 in Manila, but no further details were given. The first part of the interview was released on September 9, and the second part on September 10.

The House appropriations panel on Tuesday deferred for the second time the committee-level deliberations on the OVP’s proposed P2 billion budget for 2025. This came after Duterte nor any of her staff did not attend the resumption of the House panel's deliberation on her office’s proposed budget for next year.

The House committee on appropriations carried the motion made by Ako Bicol party-list Representative Raul Bongalon, who asked for the deferment of OVP budget deliberations subject to conditions either

• reduce the proposed budget of the OVP
• place certain funds on hold until further discussions are held

Duterte, for her part, said that the OVP will just continue its work despite the “attacks” against her.

“Alam naman namin na kaparte ‘yan ng pag-atake. Kaya kami, tutuloy-tuloy lang din kami sa kailangan namin gawin para sa bayan,” she said in the interview.

(We know that's part of the attacks. So we will just continue to do what we need to do for the people.)

'Responsive to OVP mandate'

In response, some House members said the OVP under Duterte will get a 2025 budget that will be "responsive to her office’s mandate."

House Deputy Majority Leader Jude Acidre of Tingong party-list, House Assistant Majority Leaders Pablo Ortega of La Union and Zia Adiong of Lanao del Sur, and 1-Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez made the response in a news briefing on Wednesday.

“The position of the Vice President is an office that we need to respect. We can only hope that the same respect that we give her at her office is reciprocated. Fortunately, with her absence, it tells otherwise," said Acidre.

"But nonetheless, we will give what is necessary for the office of the Vice President,” he added.

Adiong, the designated sponsor of OVP’s proposed budget, said that "anything is possible" at this point.

“Anything is possible [going forward]. The important thing here is to understand what is the appropriate budget for the OVP so it can carry out its mandate,” Adiong said.

The House panel first deferred the deliberations on August 27 due to Duterte's refusal to answer the lawmakers’ questions on OVP’s budget usage, especially on the P125 million and P500 million confidential fund allocation of the OVP under the 2022 and 2023 national budget, respectively. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News