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Vice President Sara Duterte personally attended the Senate plenary deliberations on her office’s proposed 2025 budget, hoping to persuade senators to restore the nearly P1.3-billion cut from her allocation following allegations of fund misuse made against her at a House inquiry.
In the end, the senators approved the P733-million outlay of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in less than 10 minutes, adopting the House version that slashed the original P2.03-billion proposal.
Duterte, however, secured a promise from her allies in the chamber, Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go, to either give additional funding to the OVP or restore its massive budget cuts during the period of amendments.
At a press briefing after the deliberations, Duterte thanked the Senate for “accommodating” and acting on the OVP budget.
According to her, OVP personnel are hopeful that the budget would be increased to allow the office to retain employees and continue its programs.
“If it’s returned, it would be a huge thing for us because we wouldn’t need to reject those who approach our office seeking help, especially those who need medical and burial assistance,” she said.
Duterte added that around 200 OVP contract of service personnel could lose their jobs under the reduced budget.
Most of those who will be affected by budget cuts are personnel from the OVP’s various satellite offices, she said.
Duterte had skipped the House plenary deliberations on the OVP budget, reasoning that she wanted to deny her critics in that chamber any chance to attack her.
“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 said.
The House good government committee is investigating corruption allegations involving the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte headed until she left her post in July.
