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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider OVP: Budget for medical, burial assistance not in 2025 GAA

OVP: Budget for medical, burial assistance not in 2025 GAA

Published Jan 15, 2025 07:28 am

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) will have to stop its medical and assistance program after the provision for it was scrapped under the approved 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

 

VPSD_MB3.jpg
Vice President Sara Duterte (MB File Photo)

 

“There is no approved budget for the Medical and Burial Assistance Program of the Office of the Vice President under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). We apologize for the inconvenience,” the OVP said in a statement.
 

“Since there's no line item under 2025 General Appropriations Act for Financial Assistance / Subsidy, the Office of the Vice President has no fund to implement the medical and burial assistance program,” it added.
 

The GAA, which was published on the Official Gazette, showed on page 24 that there was no line item for “Financial Assistance/Subsidy,” under which the OVP’s medical and burial assistance falls.
 

The OVP showed a comparison of the 2022 GAA, wherein the line item for financial assistance or subsidy was included.
 

The 2022 GAA was approved under former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, whose staunchest critics included former vice president Leni Robredo.
 

According to the OVP, its medical and burial assistance program reached 187,028 beneficiaries from January to December 2024. This totaled to P822,326,188.02.
 

The OVP will have a budget of P733 million for 2025. This is a far-cry from its proposal of more than P2 billion for this year.
 

The massive cut in the OVP’s budget came amid the collapse of the once UniTeam tandem, headlined by President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte.
 

Unlike her budget proposals for 2023 and 2024 that passed congressional inquiry in minutes, the Vice President’s budget spending was heavily criticized during the budget deliberations in both chambers of Congress.
 

She, along with her staff, were also subjected to a congressional inquiry about the alleged misuse  of the OVP’s and Department of Education’s confidential funds.

Related Tags

Medical assistance GAA Sara Duterte OVP Burial assistance
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