Sara still has chance to defend OVP budget – Quimbo

MANILA, Philippines —  Vice President Sara Duterte still has the opportunity to defend her office’s budget for 2025 at the plenary of the House of Representatives.

According to House committee on appropriations senior vice chair and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, the chamber’s doors are not closed to Duterte, who is facing a budget cut from P2 billion to P733 million next year.

“Let’s see. I mean we are open to anything. As I said, there’s another round of amendments (in the plenary) … You know, here in the House of the People, everyone is welcome,” she noted.

Quimbo underscored that the committee’s decision to recommend a substantial reduction in the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s budget was “difficult.”

She added once the decision was made, identifying the items of appropriation in the OVP outlay where the cuts would be taken “was easy,” since these were already determined in reports of the Commission on Audit.

Removed from the OVP’s funding was the allocation for social programs such as giving financial and medical assistance to the poor as these were “redundant” because the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Health (DOH) are already implementing such programs.

Quimbo added the DSWD and DOH have been implementing the same social protection programs more efficiently.

The committee transferred the entire P947-million “financial assistance” fund and other budget reductions of the OVP to the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program and the DOH’s medical assistance program.

She pointed out there was also the issue of fund utilization efficiency of the Vice President that made the panel slash her budget by P1.29 billion.

The lawmaker said Duterte has no one to blame but herself for the reduction in the OVP budget, which would not have been slashed had the Vice President not shown her seeming disregard for accountability.

Quimbo claimed it was unfortunate that Duterte decided to willingly withhold information that lawmakers needed to decide on the OVP’s budget in 2025.

During the budget hearing, Duterte evaded lawmakers’ questions that were not related to the OVP’s proposed budget for next year,