Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

The 2025 budget hearing of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) didn't push through as originally scheduled on Thursday, Aug. 15 at the House of Representatives. 

This was the first deviation from the House of Committee on Appropriations' schedule as far as the per agency deliberations on the P6.352-trillion 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) is concerned. 

Otherwise, the NEP-related hearings for the proposed 2025 national budget have gone without a hitch, thus giving the budget measure a path to its early approval. 

On Thursday, the budgets deliberations with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) were carried out and duly terminated by the appropriations panel. 

Appropriations panel Vice Chairperson Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin said that the committee would instead tackle the OVP's budget on Aug. 27, along with those of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and Office of the Ombudsman. 

Garin said the Aug. 27 date was "per OVP's request".

Vice President Sara Duterte--who exited the Cabinet last July 19 when she left her seat as Department of Education (DepEd) secretary--had been critical of the Marcos administration on a variety of issues. 

The OVP's proposed budget for next year has been increased by eight percent to P2.037 billion.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez is eyeing the third-reading passage of the budget mensure by end of September.