Senate Extends Parliamentary Courtesy to Office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte over Budget Proposal for 2026
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President attended the Senate OVP budget hearing and the panel swiftly approved her office’s proposed fund for 2026.
For 2026, the Office of the Vice President is seeking for a P902.895 million budget. The OVP removed the budget allocation for Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s book Isang Kaibigan in its proposed fund for next year. The said request also excludes confidential and intelligence funds.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte remains surrounded by allegations of her misused confidential funds. An impeachment case was filed against the Vice President but it was archived by the Senate after the Supreme Court ruled it as “unconstitutional”. Recently, the Vice President attended the Senate budget hearing on the proposed fund of the OVP for next year.
The Senate panel swiftly approved the P902.895 million budget request of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte for 2026. Based on a report on GMA News, during the Senate hearing, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri made the motion to extend parliamentary courtesy to the OVP.
According to Sen. Migz Zubiri, the proposed budget of the OVP for 2026 is already “lean and mean”. Based on the report, several senators expressed their support on the proposed budget of Duterte’s office. The motion of Zubiri was seconded by Sen. Bato dela Rosa.
Based on the report, the motion of Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri to extend parliamentary courtesy to the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte was approved by Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian. The approval came after there was no objection from the lawmakers.
While Vice Pres. Duterte previously claimed that she expects budget cuts from the proposed budget of her office, Duterte’s office stressed that more programs can be accomplished if the fund is bigger. Previously, the Vice President claimed that she did not ask for a bigger budget citing that she is not an ally of the Marcos Jr. administration.