VP Sara: Around 200 OVP personnel likely to lose jobs with 2025 budget cuts

Around 200 personnel of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) could lose their jobs should the reduced budget of the office for next year amounting to P733 million be approved under the General Appropriations Act, Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday.

At a press conference, Duterte said that most that will be affected by the budget cuts will be personnel from the OVP’s various satellite offices across the country, but there will also be some employees assigned to the OVP’s central office in Mandaluyong City.

“Meron kasi kaming mga OVP personnel na ‘yung charges nila, nakita namin na natanggal ‘yung budget source nila natanggal. So meron talagang mga OVP personnel particularly sa satellite offices na mawawalan ng trabaho. Marami rami rin din ‘yun,” she told reporters after the 2025 budget of the OVP was approved by the Senate in less than 10 minutes.

(We have seen that the budget source for the charges of some OVP personnel was removed. Therefore, there will really be OVP personnel particularly in the satellite offices who will lose their jobs. There's a lot of them.)

“Approximate lang ito sa akin ha na 200 (matatanggal) kasi ‘di ko na maalala ‘yung exact number. 200 contract of service personnel,” she added.

(I can’t remember the exact number, but approximately 200 contract of service personnel will lose their jobs.)

Earlier this afternoon, the Senate approved the P733-million budget proposed by the Senate finance committee after no senators raised questions.

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

On Monday, Duterte said that some projects of the OVP, specifically the free bus rides and financial assistance provided in its satellite offices, may be affected by the proposed cuts in the OVP’s 2025 budget.

Duterte said that the OVP’s satellite offices are still currently functioning and will continue to do so until December 31, 2024. However, she said she is unsure how the operations will change come 2025.

Aside from its central office in Mandaluyong, the OVP has ten satellite offices and two extension offices across the country. —RF, GMA Integrated News