Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s Office Granted By Lower Chamber of Congress A P733 Million Budget
CONGRESS – The House of Representatives has decided to give the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte a P733 million budget for 2025 which is P1.29 billion lower than the proposed budget.
One of the most controversial budget proposals this 2024 is the 2025 budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President. During the Senate and House deliberations, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte was involved in heated arguments with the members of the lower and the upper chamber.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte and Senator Risa Hontiveros had a spar during the Senate deliberation of the 2025 budget proposal. According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Office of the Vice President is asking for a P2 billion budget for 2025.
Hontiveros and Duterte expressed disappointment on each other’s behavior after the former questioned about the similarity of the OVP programs with the programs of the other government agencies and the P10 million budget allotted for the distribution of the book authored by the Vice President.
During the deliberation of the 2025 budget proposal of the OVP at the House of Representatives, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte exchanged heated arguments with some House members. The deliberation was scheduled at another time.
However, Vice Pres. Duterte did not show up at the resumption of the OVP budget deliberation. Instead, she told the House in a letter that she is leaving the decision to the House of Representatives. She stressed that she has expressed her position on the issues surrounding the budget.
The absence of Duterte triggered the disappointment of several House members. It sparked talks that the OVP may be defunded for 2025. Senate President Chiz Escudero previously confirmed that the Congress has the power to defund an office but, in the recent years, it has not happened.
Recently, the lower chamber of the Congress has decided on the budget of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a report on GMA News Balitambayan, the P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025 includes the P733 million budget allotted for the OVP.
The P733 million set for the office of Vice Pres. Duterte is P1.2 billion lower compared to the budget proposal of the OVP. According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the OVP is requesting a P2 billion budget for 2025.
President Bongbong Marcos previously certified the national budget as “urgent”. The Congress was able to pass the national budget on its second and third ready in the same day before its break which begins on Thursday until November.
Vice Pres. Duterte previously reacted to the rumored defunding of her office following her absence from the House hearings. In a recent hearing set to discuss the DepEd fund use, Duterte also did not show up.