OVP budget hit hard: House eyes 50% cut

The House of Representatives is considering cutting by half the Office of the Vice President’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 to augment the allocations of other agencies, a House leader disclosed Wednesday.

In an interview, Deputy Minority Leader France Castro said the Committee on Appropriations, tasked with scrutinizing the annual national budget, is “resolved” to slash Vice President Sara Duterte’s budget regardless of whether or not she will face the lawmakers to defend the outlay in the next hearing.

Duterte and her staff skipped the second round of deliberations on the OVP’s budget last Tuesday, prompting lawmakers to propose a deep cut in its allocation.

Castro said the House is poised to reduce the budget for the OVP’s social programs since these duplicate the initiatives of other agencies, particularly the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“We think the only thing that can be removed are the socio-economic programs that she failed to justify [before the panel],” Castro said in Filipino.

“We don’t want [her budget] to be zero like what was done before to the CHR that was given a P1 budget. That is unfair. Perhaps we could remove her socio-economic projects that might more or less be P1 billion,” she said.

The Makabayan bloc will also pursue the realignment of the P10 million allotted for “Isang Kaibigan” — the much-criticized children’s book Duterte supposedly authored — to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the purchase of additional textbooks and other reading materials.

Panel chairperson Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Elizaldy Co said on Tuesday he would recommend that the funds requested by Duterte for social services be realigned to line agencies such as the DSWD and DepEd, citing her “poor track record” in handling public resources.

Co’s proposal followed Duterte’s refusal to justify both her expenses in the OVP and the DepEd, which she headed for nearly two years until her resignation on 19 June.

“She doesn’t want to explain why amid all this sloppiness and apparent corruption she should be entrusted with P2 billion in 2025,” Co said in Filipino.

Aside from the alleged misuse of P125 million in confidential funds in 2022, P73.2 million of which was disallowed by the Commission on Audit, Duterte also left the DepEd with P12.3 billion in disallowances, suspensions, and unresolved charges at the end of 2023.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong, the OVP budget’s sponsor, said that while no policy precludes the office from engaging in other services, these must undergo Congress scrutiny, backed by the necessary data.

A day after snubbing the House budget hearing, Duterte said her office could work “even without a budget.” She said there was talk of “defunding” her budget for next year.