Malacañang Palace on Thursday said it is not shutting its doors to suggestions from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), after the latter issued a statement claiming Vice President Sara Duterte is being “kept out of the loop” in governance.
For Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro, any helpful suggestion from the OVP is welcome.
“On the part of the Palace, any meaningful suggestion is welcome, any good suggestion that comes from the OVP. It is not rejected and the President is not closing the door to the Vice President. All suggestions that may be meaningful will be accepted if they will help the people,” Castro said in a press briefing.
She also defended the Marcos administration from allegations that the Office of the President is not supportive of the OVP and its projects.
“Let us remember, the Vice President herself said that she has a formula or knowledge to lower the price of rice but she did not want to share it with the government and the administration because she does not want to help the President. So, it is not the President or this administration that is blocking what she wants to do for the people,” Castro said.
Castro noted that the Department of Budget and Management increased the OVP's budget in the proposed National Expenditure Program for 2026 by P170 million, raising it from P733 million to P903 million.
“Regarding the budget, this administration does not stand in the way if [the OVP] asks for a higher budget,” she said.
She added that the OVP failed to defend its budget before the House of Representatives during its previous budget proposal deliberations.
“If we are not mistaken, what they asked for was quite a lot—their proposed budget for the year 2025—something like P2.03 billion. It just so happens that it was not defended properly in the House of Representatives. So, whatever the decision of the House of Representatives or Congress is, that is no longer within the scope of the President,” she said.
On 15 July 2025, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved the P6.793 trillion national budget proposal for fiscal year 2026.