The House Committee on Appropriations on Thursday recommended a cut of P1.2 billion from the Office of the Vice President’s proposed P2.037-billion budget for fiscal year 2025, leaving it with only P733 million.

In a briefing on Thursday, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the panel, said the committee had reached a “unanimous decision” to reduce the OVP’s outlay. The reduction is aimed at the “overextended offices” and other social programs that duplicate initiatives of other state agencies.

Duterte this week said she could work with a “zero budget.”

The cuts from the budget will be reallocated to the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), which will each receive P646.58 million.

The funding for these programs will come from the OVP’s allocations for financial assistance (P947.4 million), supplies (P200 million), professional services (P92.4 million), lease expenses (P48.3 million), and utilities (P5 million).

Quimbo said the committee decided to reduce the OVP’s proposed budget to its 2022 level, when Vice President Leni Robredo was allotted P712 million.

In 2023, the OVP spent P53 million to lease 10 satellite offices and two extension offices.

“It seems like there are too many offices. Why? The previous vice presidents did not have these nationwide offices,” Quimbo said.

“Why are there so many social programs that seem redundant? Why does the OVP have its own medical assistance program when we already have the MAIFIP in the DoH? Why does it have its own funeral assistance program when the AICS in the DSWD covers that?”

Quimbo clarified that the budget reduction was not yet final and was still subject to the approval of the House plenary. Floor debates will begin on Monday.

“This is not yet the final approval of Congress. This is just a recommendation from the Committee on Appropriations to the plenary. The committee report, which contains the recommendation of a reduced budget for the OVP, was approved on second reading last night,” Quimbo told reporters.

“We are not perfect. It’s a recommended amount. We are open to debate and discussion. If there are any inputs or appeals, such as increasing the budget for any reason, we are very willing to listen to all of those inputs,” the economist-lawmaker added.

The House of Representatives and the Senate will meet in a bicameral committee to reconcile the differing provisions of their respective General Appropriations Bills (GAB). Once reconciled, the GAB will be submitted to Malacañang for the signature of the President, who has the authority to veto it.

The realignment in the OVP budget follows Duterte’s failure to justify her expenditure of P125 million in confidential funds in 2022 — of which P73.287 million was disallowed by the Commission on Audit — and her skipping the second round of budget deliberations on Tuesday.

Before Quimbo’s announcement, Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Elizaldy Co, the committee chairperson, had indicated that he would recommend transferring the funds requested by Duterte for social services to the DSWD and the Department of Education (DepEd), citing her “poor track record” in handling public resources.

Earlier this week, Duterte accused Co and House Speaker Martin Romualdez of “meddling” with the DepEd’s budget during her tenure as its secretary.

Co responded to Duterte’s allegation, saying it was an attempt to “divert” attention away from her need to explain the alleged irregularities in managing the funds of both the OVP and DepEd, which she headed for nearly two years.