Spox of VP Sara Duterte’s Office Speaks on P903 Million Proposed Budget of OVP for 2026
SARA DUTERTE’S OFFICE – The Office of the Vice President claimed that the proposed P903 million budget for 2026 is enough for the programs of the OVP.
The proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President for 2025 suffered a huge cut. The final budget given to the OVP this year was at Php 700 million — P1.3 million lower from its proposed P2 billion budget for this year. Amid the issues, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte assured that her office can operate even on a small budget.
For 2026, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte previously claimed that her office is asking for a P733 million budget from the national government. According to her, she refuses to seek a bigger budget because she knows that the proposal will be allegedly declined as she is not part of the Marcos administration.
Furthermore, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that she does not want the staff of the OVP to be allegedly humiliated during the budget process. Her remarks earned a reaction from the House of Representatives which denied embarrassing anyone in the budget process. The lower chamber also expressed its hope that the Vice President will recognize their role in the scrutiny of budget proposals.
Recently, the spokesperson of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office, Atty. Ruth Castelo, spoke on the proposed budget of the OVP for 2026. Based on a report on GMA News, different from the previous claim of the Vice President, her office is seeking for a P903 million budget from the national government for next year.
According to Castelo, the proposed P903 million budget of the Office of the Vice President “is allocated already per program”. She also stressed that the disaster operations’ budget has increased significantly from P30.25 million to P56.62 million as they include the inflation and the cost for the adding of personnel.
Based on the report, the spokesperson of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office confirmed that they receive donations from their private partners which help expand the reach of their programs. Meanwhile, she clarified that they only accept in-kind donations like goods and equipment and not monetary donations.
Recently, the spokesperson of the OVP also asserted that Vice Pres. Duterte allegedly remains to do her job even if she is not physically present.