Where will the P156 million slashed from the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) funding for 2026 go? To help indigent Filipinos get through their medical needs.

This was bared by House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela "Mika" Suansing in a press conference Monday, Oct. 20.

Specifically, Suansing said the removed budget from the OVP led by Vice President Sara Duterte was realigned to the Department of Health’s (DOH) Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP). The MAIFP's target beneficiaries are the poor.

“The budget for financial assistance should be lodged in the different agencies like DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), DOH (Department of Health), or DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment). So yun po yung ginawa natin, binatak po natin yun at lahat po yun napunta po sa MAIFIP,” Suansing said.

(So that's what we did, we reallocated everything to the MAIFIP.)

Suansing added that the fund allocated for the increase in salaries of OVP personnel next year was untouched.

“Pangalawa po na kondisyon ko na kung makakaltasan man ang OVP kailangan po yung pondo na matitira sa [OVP] sapat para maipagpatuloy nila na magampanan ang mandato ng opisina and with that po even with the reduction tumaas pa rin po yung kanilang supplies expense, tumaas pa rin po yung kanilang rent expense, yung operational expense nila tumaas pa rin po,” she explained.

(My second condition is that if the OVP’s budget is to be reduced, the remaining funds must still be sufficient for the office to continue fulfilling its mandate. And with that, even with the reduction, their supplies expense still increased, their rent expense still increased, and their operational expenses still increased.)

The OVP budget in the current 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) or enacted budget is P733 million.

The proposed allocation for the agency under the House-approved 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) is slightly more at P746 million. The GAB, once signed by the President, becomes the GAA.

It was Deputy Minority Leader Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima who motioned during plenary session Monday, Oct. 13 to reduce the OVP budget by P156 million.

De Lima's rationale for the fund slash centered on the Vice President's supposed refusal to participate in the House budget process, particularly in discussions on how her office spent public funds as well as her repeated acts of "disrespect" to the institution.

The former senator likened the budget cut to a "parent disciplining a brat". The House majority approved motion and subsequently, the entire GAB on third and final reading.