After talks of a possible reduced budget for the Office of the Vice President’s budget for 2025, the House of Representatives finally pulled the trigger on Thursday, September 12.
In a press conference, appropriations panel senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo said that from the OVP’s original request of more than P2 billion for next year, the committee is forwarding to the plenary only a recommended budget of around P700 million.
It’s a bold move for the House, which has been insistent that its scrutiny of the OVP budget is never political, despite Vice President Sara Duterte’s accusations of political harassment against her, and in the wake of the ugly breakdown of the 2022 election alliance between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Vice President.
It’s one big step for the lower chamber, but there’s a long way to go.
We try to break it down.
By how much was the budget reduced?
The OVP, upon consultation with the Department of Budget and Management, originally requested P2.026 billion in new general appropriations for 2025 (P2.037 billion if continuing appropriations are included).
The committee, however, reduced the budget that the OVP sought by P1.293 billion, resulting in a new proposal of P733.198 million.
Here are the items that got budget cuts:
The OVP program that appears to be the most affected is the aid delivery, after the House panel moved to fully deprive Duterte’s office of funding for financial assistance that the agency provides to constituents.
The items on supplies and personnel services are also reduced by tens to hundreds of millions of pesos.
The reduction of P48.31 million for the OVP’s rental expenses would also cast a shadow of uncertainty over the future of the agency’s satellite offices across the regions.
What will happen to the removed budget?
Quimbo said the budget that was slashed from the OVP proposal will go to the following:
- Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program
- Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients project
Is this final?
Not yet. The appropriations committee recommendation will be elevated to the House plenary, giving the entire 300-plus-member institution the opportunity to weigh in on the amended proposal.
Chances of the slashed budget being restored are very low, however, especially after Duterte angered House members when she and her entire agency snubbed the second round of budget deliberations for her office on September 10.
Duterte’s defenders, however, are expected to put up a fight during next week’s plenary debates, although the OVP budget would not be tackled until September 23. Duterte’s allies in Congress include Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab, Sagip Representative Rodante Marcoleta, and Davao Occidental Representative Claude Bautista.
Pampanga 2nd District Representative and former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is also an ally of Duterte, but even if she works to salvage what’s left of the Vice President’s budget, the veteran politician is more likely to use her influence behind the scenes.
In the event the House approves the reduced budget for the OVP, it may be a different ball game in the Senate, where senators are less hostile than House members towards Duterte. It may retain her original budget request, or reduce her funding proposal by a different amount.
Whatever happens, delegates from both chambers of Congress will convene to reconcile disagreeing provisions of their approved General Appropriations Bill (GAB). That usually happens in December.
“I am hopeful though that the seeming impasse between the OVP and the House will be resolved where either or both would take a step back, set aside their differences/biases, simply follow the process or, at the end of the day, for Congress (in the exercise of its wisdom) to decide on this and other related matters by a vote,” Senate President Chiz Escudero said on Thursday.
Can Duterte appeal to have her budget restored?
Yes, she can, but given her now fractured relationship with the House, the window to mend those ties has probably closed.
Quimbo invited Duterte to participate in the House plenary proceedings. Duterte had thanked Quimbo during last year’s budget season, but this year, the Vice President tried to have her fired as presiding officer during the first round of budget deliberations for the OVP on August 27.
“It’s a recommended amount. We are still open to debate and discussion. So if they have input that we need to know, and they have an appeal to us to increase the budget for whatever reason, we are very willing to listen to those inputs,” the Marikina 2nd District representative said in a mix of English and Filipino.
There are many budget-related issues that had been thrown at the Vice President during the past two budget briefings for her agency. Rappler summarized the key questions into four:
- How did the OVP spend the P73 million in confidential funds that COA later disallowed?
- How are the OVP’s social services projects not a duplication of programs of other government agencies?
- Why is the audit of the OVP’s social services projects plagued with findings of underutilized funds and documentary deficiencies?
- Does the OVP really need a lot of satellite offices?
But what if she finally provides detailed answers on those burning questions?
Even if she answers the questions, it’s difficult to see how lawmakers are going to be satisfied, but a thorough response on the issues she is facing might buy her some goodwill and give her a better standing in where the battle really lies — the court of public opinion.
This politically charged budget season is not happening in a vacuum, and there is merit to Duterte’s allegation that the House is coming for her. After all, the chamber has historically respected the time-honored tradition to grant inter-branch or parliamentary courtesy to the Office of the Vice President, sparing the agency from questions during committee-level budget deliberations.
The House has said it just wants to get to the bottom of her questionable use of public funds, which is valid, but the same treatment is not given to the Office of the President (OP). State auditors have not really found anything highly alarming on how Marcos’ office spends his budget, but it doesn’t change the fact that the OP is infused with billions of pesos in confidential and intelligence funds.
Duterte, on the other hand, has given her opponents enough ammunition to damage her political capital, as they constantly bombard her with questions on her budget utilization.
The bickering is also a very early prelude to the showdown in the 2028 elections, given the supposed presidential aspirations of Duterte and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who is Marcos’ cousin.
Duterte has said she is ready to work even with a zero budget, but this test of survival puts her in the same tough spot as her predecessor. For the first time since ascending to the country’s second highest post, Duterte is faced with the possibility of having to work with a budget similar to that of Leni Robredo, whose office was also politically at odds with the administration of then-president Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father.
In the six years that Robredo was in office, for the most part without a Cabinet post, she had to make do with an average annual budget of around P650 million to P700 million. Can Duterte do the same, and prove to the electorate that she is not a spare tire? – Rappler.com
