Some 200 personnel from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) stand to lose their jobs amid its now depleted allocation for the year 2025, Vice President Sara Duterte said.

This came as senators approved the P733-million outlay of the OVP in just less than 10 minutes, adopting the House resolution that made a P1.3-billion cut from the OVP’s original P2.03-billion proposal for 2025.

Duterte explained that the massive budget cut would not only affect the OVP’s programs and projects, but also the employment of around 200 service personnel.

“Meron kasi kaming mga OVP (Office of the Vice President) personnel na ‘yung charges nila nakita namin na natanggal ‘yung budget source nila natanggal (We saw the budget source of some of our OVP personnel were removed),” she said.  

“So meron talagang mga OVP personnel, particularly sa satellite offices na mawawalan ng trabaho (So, there are really OVP personnel, particularly in the satellite offices, who will lose their jobs),” the official added.

The Vice President attended the Senate plenary deliberations on the OVP’s proposed 2025 budget, a far cry from her move to skip most of the House committee-level hearings and the House plenary deliberations that led to her office’s budget cut.

She would have to wait though for the final version of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) before deciding what projects and programs will be closed down.

“The closure of the satellite office is a possibility depending on the budget we get in GAA,” she shared.

Currently, the OVP has 10 satellite offices in Cebu, Tacloban, Davao, Zamboanga, Surigao, Dagupan, Cotabato City, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Isabela, and Bicol Region.

It also has two extensions offices in Lipa, Batangas and Tondo, Manila.

Duterte, however, stressed that the OVP will maximize whatever resources will be given to it next year.

“Kung ano man iyong maiwan, kung meron mang maiwan, tutuloy pa rin kami sa kung ano iyong ipagkasya namin na pwedeng serbisyo doon sa ibibigay na budget (Whatever will be left, if there will be something left, we will push through with whatever services we can extend with the given the budget),” she assured.

The Vice President’s budget issue was a far-cry from the first two years of her office where she breezed through the approval of the OVP’s proposed budget in Congress.

The official claimed this was political harassment owing to the falling out between him and President Marcos, who she teamed up with under the UniTeam banner during the 2022 polls.