Vice President Sara Duterte is asking Congress for a budget of P2.037 billion under the proposed 2025 national budget set to be deliberated upon next month.
Vice President Sara Duterte
Based on the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) or proposed budget for the coming year posted on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is seeking a budget of P2,037,305,000 for its third fiscal year.
Duterte earlier said that her office will not seek confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) for 2025 unlike her P500-million proposal for the OVP last year.
This brings her total proposed budget for next year P336,714,000 lower than her proposed 2024 budget.
Included in the P2.037-billion proposal are P188,514,000 for personnel services, P1,792,391,000 for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), and P56,400,000 for capital outlays.
The OVP’s staffing summary report also showed that Duterte will receive a total of P3,983,000 in salary for 2025.
Her chief-of-staff will receive P2,270,000 in salary, while the assistant chief-of-staff will receive P2,009,000 for next year.
If approved, the proposed P2.037-billion budget would still be higher than the P1.8 billion for 2024 that the OVP received.
The OVP’s budget was one of the cruces that might have led to her falling out with the Marcos administration.
Last year, even after the approval of her P2.3-billion budget proposal, Congress removed the P500-million allocation for CIFs, which were originally included in the OVP’s MOOE.
This came after questions on how Duterte spent P125 million in December 2022 after a transfer was made by the DBM upon the approval of the Office of the President (OP).
The issue led to a falling out between the Dutertes and the Marcoses, particularly former president Rodrigo Duterte who was angered at how the Vice President was treated by Congress.