P1.3B taken out of OVP's budget

(UPDATES) A HOUSE panel on Thursday slashed nearly P1.3 billion off the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), or 63 percent of its original budget request of P2.037 billion.

The move follows Vice President Sara Duterte's refusal to face the House Committee on Appropriations again to answer questions about her budget, after she accused lawmakers of using the hearings to attack her.

The Manila Times tried to reach the OVP for comment but the office has yet to issue a statement. Earlier, however, Duterte had stated that the OVP has «deferred entirely to the discretion and judgment of the committee regarding its budget proposal for 2025.»

House Appropriations Committee Senior Vice Chairman and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said the executive committee of the panel approved the removal of P1.293 billion from the OVP budget, made up of P947 million for financial assistance and P48.3 million for rent and lease expenses.

There were also cuts from other allocations, such as professional services or the hiring of consultants, utilities and supplies and materials.

The financial assistance part of the OVP's budget is the source of money for those seeking burial, medical, transportation and similar assistance from the office.

The funds will be transferred to the Department of Health (DoH) under its Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (Maifip) and the Assistance to Individuals to Crisis Situations (AICS) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Both agencies will receive a nearly equal share of the funding amounting to P646 million, raising the total budget of the Maifip program to P27.55 billion from P26.9 billion and the AICS program to P35.8 billion from P35.18 billion.

Quimbo assured the public that the OVP and the beneficiaries of the projects could still access the funds that would be transferred to the DSWD and the DoH by communicating their requests to the two departments.

«We think that the DSWD and DoH are much better [placed] to implement these programs, and expand these services to the recipients,» Quimbo said.

The cuts mean that the OVP will be given a budget of P733 million, which is