The Senate Committee on Finance on Monday approved the proposed P2.385-billion budget of the Office of the Vice President, including P500 million in confidential and intelligence funds.

Vice President Sara Duterte was physically present at the budget deliberation that lasted about 90 minutes, longer than the 20 minutes the House Committee on Appropriations earlier took to approve the proposed budget.

Senator Imee Marcos, vice chair of the Senate panel on finance, asked about the lack of internal guidelines for "handling, monitoring, and the reporting of in-kind donations" that the Commission on Audit had raised to the OVP.

Rosalynne Sanchez, the OVP's director for administrative and financial services, replied that they had prepared draft guidelines and expect to release them "within this quarter."

Meanwhile, OVP Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio confirmed the deployment of 433 personnel to the newly created Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, or VPSPG.

"The creation of the VPSPG is really for the protection of current and future vice presidents," Ortonio said, pointing out that the number of personnel was determined by both the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police.

"VPSPG personnel consist of admin personnel holding offices at the Vice President's headquarters, while the rest are doing security and surveillance work in different satellite offices of the OVP," he explained.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Monday deemed "inordinate and excessive" the 433 security personnel of the OVP, saying that there should be a "rational limit."

"I have been in Congress since 1987. I have not availed of security escorts," he said.

Over the weekend, the OVP said the VPSPG was formed independently of the Presidential Security Group in 2022 and that it did not make sense to compare its personnel count to those of other VPs.

Duterte justified the number of escorts by saying that she also heads the Department of Education and serves as co-vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

According to Lagman, the salaries of the 433 personnel should not be sourced from the confidential funds of the OVP in accordance with the rules.

"That is a completely different budget. Because the confidential funds cannot be used for the payment of salaries and emoluments of those who are involved in the confidential funds," the seasoned lawmaker said.

 With Neil Alcober