Senate approves OVP budget for 2025 in less than 10 minutes

LOOK: Vice President Sara Duterte attends the Senate's plenary deliberations on the budget of her office. To recall, the Senate finance committee has adopted the House's decision to allocate P733M for the OVP instead of the P2B originally proposed in the NEP. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/5MLUBWTZdL

— Hana Bordey (@HanaBordey) November 13, 2024

The Senate on Wednesday approved the 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in less than 10 minutes.

This, after no senators raised questions on the P733-million budget proposed by the Senate finance committee.

The budget of the OVP was supposed to be immediately approved upon the motion of Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa. But the motion was withdrawn as Senator Bong Go manifested his appeal to restore the budget for OVP's social services.

In his manifestation, Go, an allay of the Dutertes, hit the reduction on the OVP's budget, saying this would affect the services initiated by the office, particularly the assistance during calamities, livelihood projects, and educational, medical, and burial assistance.

He noted that there are government offices who have bigger budget compared to the OVP who are "underperforming" and some of their funds were not utilized.

"Ang daming programa na pilit sinasama sa mga Unprogrammed Funds na hindi na po nagagamit, winawalis na po dahil hindi nagagamit yung pondo," he mentioned.

For Go, Duterte should be given a chance to serve the Filipino people and should not be treated as a "spare tire" in the government.

"Nananawagan po sana ako sa mga kasamahan natin dito na sana po madagdagan o maibalik ang pondo po na naaprubahan sa NEP for 2025. Para naman po makapag-trabaho nang maayos ang ating Bise Presidente na parte po ng Executive Branch of the government. Para naman meron tayong working Vice President at hindi lang po spare tire," he said.

(I am calling on our fellow colleagues to increase or restore the funds that were approved in the NEP for 2025. This way, our Vice President, who is part of the Executive Branch of the government, will be able to properly perform her duties. We want a working Vice President, not just a spare tire.)

"Gusto naman po magtrabaho ng ating Bise Presidente. Huwag ho nating pilayan ang gustong magtrabaho," he added.

(Our Vice President is eager to work. Let's not hinder those who are willing to work.)

To recall, the Senate finance committee has adopted the House of Representatives' decision to cut the budget of the OVP to P733 million from the P2 billion as originally proposed in the National Expenditure Program submitted by the Executive Department to Congress.

"We reached out several times to the Office of the Vice President requesting them to submit documents to clarify issues regarding their budget but they have not submitted as of today," Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, earlier said this month.

"So, we decided to retain the GAB amount pending submission and review of these documents," she added.

'Not yet final'

In a separate interview on Wednesday, Poe explained that the P733 million budget for OVP is not yet final as senators may still propose to either increase or decrease the budget of Duterte's office, but it will still be subject to the body's approval.

"Hindi pa naman tapos 'yun... Sa ngayon, oo, it's retained...[Pero] sa period of amendment, libre namang tumayo si Sen. Bato at si Sen. Bong Go  to propose that amendment. Of course, I'm only the chairman. It will also depend on the approval of the body," Poe said.

(That is not yet final. For now, it's retained...but in the period of amendment, Sen. Bato and Sen. Bong Go can propose amendments.)

Poe disclosed that up until today, they are still waiting for the OVP's submission of the details of the budget items which have been removed under the GAB.

"One of the reasons why we retained the GAB proposal is because we're still awaiting the documents from the OVP...Wala pa sa ngayon," she said.

Amid Go's appeal, Poe clarified that there is still funding for OVP's social services.

"Meron namang mga social programs pa rin. Meron pa rin funding na iba. For social programs, hinihingi lang natin sa OVP yung detalye kung ano 'yung mga programs na yun. They're about, if I'm not mistaken, about P600 million also still for social programs. But we've been waiting for submission also from the OVP what the itemized allocations are for," Poe said.

(There is still funding for the social programs. We are just waiting for the details from the OVP to justify the programs. They're about P600 million still for social programs. But we've been waiting for submission also from the OVP what the itemized allocations are for.)

Unlike in the House of Representatives, Vice President Sara Duterte personally appeared before the Senate during the plenary deliberations of the budget.

At a press conference, Duterte reiterated her explanation on skipping the plenary deliberations of the OVP's budget in the House of Representatives.

"Hindi na kami umattend doon sa plenary kasi alam naman namin na paulit-ulit lang din 'yung mga tanong nila na unrelated to the submitted budget of the Office of the Vice President," Duterte told reporters.

(We didn't attend during the House of Representatives' plenary deliberations on our budget because we know that they will reiterate all their questions that are not related to the submitted budget of the Office of the Vice President.)

She also thanked the Senate for "accommodating" and for their actions on the OVP's budget. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News