Sen. Grace Poe Speaks on Budget Appropriation for VP Sara Duterte’s Office
GRACE POE – The Senator revealed that the Senate Finance panel adopted the P733 million House-reduced budget for Vice President Sara Duterte’s office.
Undeniably, the budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2025 is the most controversial among the fund proposals. The Senate and House deliberations over the P2 billion budget requested by Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office sparked countless headlines.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte got into a spar with some House members and Senator Risa Hontiveros during the budget deliberations. At the deliberation at the House of Representatives, Duterte got into a spar with ACT Teacher’s Party-List France Castro who asked some questions and accused the Vice President of allegedly not responding.
According to Duterte, Castro may not like her answers and how she responds but she is answering the questions. At the Senate hearing, Vice Pres. Duterte and Sen. Risa Hontiveros exchanged heated remarks after the Senator asked about the P10 million budget allotted for the distribution of the book written by Duterte herself.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte skipped several hearings at the House of Representatives. She also snubbed the inquiry regarding her office’s budget use when she was the DepEd secretary. It triggered rumors that the Office of the Vice President may be defunded or given a zero budget.
Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero previously confirmed that it is possible for an office to be given a zero budget but it has not happened in the recent years. Meanwhile, according to Vice Pres. Duterte, the OVP can operate regardless of the budget.
The House decided to give the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte a budget similar with the amount given to former Vice Pres. Leni Robredo’s office. The lower chamber gave the OVP a P733 million budget for 2025 which is P1.3 billion lower from the fund requested by her office.
Recently, the Senate Finance panel confirmed that they adopted the budget appropriation of the House on the budget of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a report on GMA News, Sen. Grace Poe explained that they have given the OVP a chance to submit the documents that could clarify the budget issues.
“We reached out several times to the Office of the Vice President requesting them to submit documents to clarify issues regarding their budget but they have not submitted as of today,” Sen. Grace Poe said.
Based on the report, the Senate Finance panel decided to retain the P733-million budget set by the House of Representatives for the OVP. The House has approved the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on its third and final reading in September.
Previously, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte assured the public that the OVP will work regardless of the budget. She stressed that the OVP is a small office.