Office of the Vice President (OVP) spokesperson Ruth Castelo expressed hopes that Congress will give Vice President Sara Duterte the courtesy of approving the budget without needing to defend it before lawmakers.

The Vice President is scheduled to return to the Philippines from The Hague, Netherlands, where she visited her detained father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“Anyway, yung budget naman po natin, P903.6 million, na hindi naman po siya ganon kalaki at na-vet na rin po yan ng Department of Budget and Management na i-submit na po sa kanila. So sana nga po, courtesy na lang (the budget is just P903.6 million, it’s not that big and it was already vetted by the Department of Budget and Management when it was submitted to them. So, I hope there’s courtesy),” she said during a radio interview on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

But the spokesperson, who is also a lawyer, assured that the office is ready to defend the proposed 2026 budget if there’s a need for it.

Asked if Duterte will be able to attend to budget hearings, Castelo said she believes she will if her schedule permits since the Vice President will have to attend other events—such as the Peñafrancia Festival in Naga—once she arrives.

“So we'll see. Kung kaya po ng schedule, dadating naman po ang Vice President Duterte (If her schedule permits, Vice President Duterte will attend),” she stressed.

Meanwhile, despite having less than a billion pesos in budget for the 2026 fiscal year, Castelo assured that the country’s second-highest office will make do with what it has.

“Kung tutuusin natin, imagine wala pa pong P1 billion ang pondo ng Office of the Vice President na ganon din kalaki ang mandato, ganon din kalaki ang coverage, ang scope ng trabaho (If we think about it, imagine the Office of the Vice President has less than one billion in funding but it has as big as a mandate, coverage, and scope of work),” she pointed out.

“Siyempre, buong Pilipinas po yan. Pero (Of course, it’s for the whole Philippines. But), we live with what we have,” the official added.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has reviewed and approved P903.6 million for the OVP, up slightly from the P733 million it has in the current year.

Castelo said the difference accounts for inflation, personnel, and additional equipment for information technology.

Most of the extra funding will also go to the OVP’s programs—P7.8 million for the Million Learners and Million Trees program; P26 million for the Disaster Operations Center; and P17.4 million for the RIICE Program.

“So, meron naman pong mga nag-increase talaga (So, some things really increased) and we of course appreciate that na makakatulong po (to be able to help),” she added.

The official revealed that Vice President Sara Duterte has no plans to propose for an increase in the OVP’s budget next year.