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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider OVP's 2025 budget still at P733M, even after bicam

OVP's 2025 budget still at P733M, even after bicam

Published Dec 11, 2024 10:41 am

At A Glance

  • The Bicameral Conference Committee decided to keep the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) budget at P733 million under the proposed P6.352-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2025.

20241211_172634.jpgAko Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook, PPAB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bicameral Conference Committee decided to keep the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget at P733 million under the proposed P6.352-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2025.

This was confirmed in a statement Wednesday, Dec. 11 by House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Ako-Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co.

Co was part of the House contingent that approved the 2025 GAB along with its Senate counterpart Wednesday during the second and final bicam meeting held at the Manila Hotel. 

“We considered the Senate’s concerns, particularly on the [OVP] budget...We decided to maintain the P1.3-billion budget cut and not to further reduce the OVP’s travel funds," said the ranking member of the House of Representatives. 

The proposed OVP budget for next year was originally pegged at P2.037 billion under the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the precursor of the GAB.

However, the House through plenary action last September slashed this allocation by a significant 63 percent as a response to Vice President Sara Duterte's supposed uncooperativeness during the budget process. 

As the budget deliberations shifted from the House to the Senate in November, Vice President Duterte's allies in the upper chamber vowed to restore the lady official's budget.

However, Co's statement post-bicam indicates that no such restoration was made, thus leaving the OVP's 2025 outlay nailed at P733 million. 

"Ang pondong tinapyas ay inilaan sa mga ahensiyang tulad ng DOH (Department of Health) at DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) na may mga subok nang programa tulad ng AICS (Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations) at MAIFIP (Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients)."

(The slashed funds were allocated to agencies like DOH and DSWD with tested programs like AICS and MAIFIP.)

Co questioned the OVP’s overlapping projects, such as those related to financial and burial assistance.

“Duplication lamang ito ng mga programa ng national agencies. Hindi makatuwiran na magkaroon ng hiwalay na social services ang OVP," he reckoned.

(These are duplications of national agencies’ programs. It’s not logical for the OVP to have separate social services.)

Related Tags

Sara Duterte OVP bicameral conference committee General Appropriations Bill zaldy co
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