Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada said on Saturday, Sept. 14, that the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) should be restored following a proposed significant cut in the House of Representatives.

In a radio interview on DWIZ, Estrada said that while he cannot speak on behalf of the whole Senate, he believes that majority of the colleagues would agree that it should be restored.

"Eh paano naman magpafunction ang OVP kung tatapyasan mo ng pondo. Ako naman on my part as a senator sana i-restore na lang siguro yung budget ng OVP para naman makapagfunction (How can the OVP function if you're going to reduce its funds? On my part as a senator, I hope we can restore the OVP's budget so it can properly function)," Estrada said.

"Remember she is the second highest official of the country and she deserves some respect and dignity," he added.

The House Committee on Appropriations is recommending a P1.293-billion reduction to the proposed P2.037-billion budget next year of the OVP under Vice President Sara Duterte.

This was bared to reporters on Thursday morning, Sept. 12 by appropriations panel senior vice chairperson Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo.

The P1.293 billion represents a whopping 63 percent of the OVP budget as spelled out in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the precursor of the national budget. 

Quimbo floated this proposal two days after Vice President Sara Duterte wrote House Speaker Martin Romualdez to basically tell the chamber to do whatever it wants to the OVP's 2025 budget.

"Palagay ko naman majority of the senators will agree na kailangan i-restore, ibalik na lang sa dati kung ano yung hinihingi nung OVP so she can function well (In my opinion, the majority of the senators will agree that the budget of the OVP needs to be restored to its original state, so it can function effectively)," Estrada said.

The OVP's budget in the Senate has been submitted for plenary approval.

On the part of maintaining transparency and accountability in deliberating the budget, Estrada said that this has always been observed.

"Hindi naman mawawala yun. Pati naman ang Office of the President ini-iscrutinize din naman yung budget (That will still be done, anyway. Even the Office of the President's budget gets scrutinized). It's not only the OVP," Estrada said.

"I remember yung mga minority members natin ini-isicrutinize yung budget ng (our minority members scrutinize the budget of the) OVP, there's nothing wrong naman with it as long as long as they can justify it but if they cannot justify naman, eh yun kailangan manghimasok na kami (that's the time we have to intervene)," he added.

In a recent statement, Senate Finance Committee Chairperson2 Senator Grace Poe said that the upper chamber would approve or modify the budget based on the merits of the proposals of each office — not on who sits as its head.

At the end of the day, Poe said that they want a budget that will allow agencies to perform their mandate of delivering timely, efficient, and relevant service that will be felt by the people.