Senate panel upholds P1.3-B budget cut for OVP

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Senate committee on finance has adopted the House of Representatives’ move to slash P1.3 billion from the proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President for next year.

The Senate version allocated P733 million, mirroring the amount in the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) passed by the House.

“We reached out several times to the Office of the Vice President requesting them to submit documents to clarify issues regarding their budget but they have not submitted as of today,” Senator Grace Poe, committee chairperson, told reporters on Tuesday.

“So, we decided to retain the GAB amount pending submission and review of these documents,” she added.

House lawmakers previously noted that a significant portion of the OVP budget was for programs that overlap functions of agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health. This sparked tensions between lawmakers and Vice President Sara Duterte, who was accused of disrespecting the House deliberations.

On Tuesday, Poe sponsored in plenary the Senate committee version of the P6.352-trillion national budget.

In her sponsorship speech, Poe highlighted the fund increases for health, education, and livelihood. She specified the budget for social protection programs such as the P1,000 monthly pension for over four million indigent senior citizens and P750 health grant every month or 4.4 million families under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps, on top of education and rice subsidies.

Poe said the committee also provided P9.9 billion for teaching materials for public school teachers and P35 billion for the Commission on Elections for a number of polls. However, Comelec previously indicated that the P14-billion cut from its original proposal would impact election preparations.

Poe also noted "substantial increases" for defense and security agencies, but did not specify amounts.

Plenary debates will begin on Wednesday, Nov. 6.