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The House refrains from slashing further the already reduced budget for Vice President Sara Duterte’s office, while approving billions of pesos in unprogrammed funds and secret funds that leftist lawmakers flagged
MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives approved the budget proposal of the Marcos administration for 2025, capping month-long deliberations overshadowed by lawmakers’ ugly spat with Vice President Sara Duterte.
The chamber approved House Bill No. 10800 on second and final reading on Wednesday, September 25, infusing the government with P6.352 trillion in funding for the following year, while guaranteeing a reduced budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
Duterte did not show up on the last day possible for her to defend her proposed budget for 2025, even after the House majority rescheduled deliberations for her office twice.
A frustrated ACT Teachers Representative France Castro even suggested slashing her proposed budget down to P529 million, down from the OVP’s original request of P2.037 billion, but party leaders decided to stick with the appropriations committee recommendation, which is P733 million.
“It is still important that the Office of the Vice President have sufficient budget to continue its service to the people,” Speaker Martin Romualdez said. “The OVP’s budget of P733 million is almost similar to the budget received by Leni Robredo when she was vice president.”
The P1.3 billion removed from Duterte’s budget proposal will be realigned to social services projects of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health instead.
Problem areas
The Marcos administration’s funding request for 2025 is 10.1% higher than the current year’s P5.768-trillion national budget, and is intended to “prioritize expenditures that will sustain economic growth,” according to the budget department.
The House took 58 days to pass the budget request this year from the day the proposal was handed over by the executive branch, longer than last year’s 57 days, and the record 37 days during the first year of the Marcos presidency.
Marcos’ certification as urgent of the measure allowed the lower chamber to pass the measure on second and third reading on the same day, bypassing a constitutional requirement that a bill be read on three readings on separate days.
A total of 285 lawmakers voted in favor of the passage of HB 10800, while three others — all from the Makabayan bloc — voted against it. No one abstained.
“There is a P158-billion allocation for unprogrammed appropriations in 2025 which can be considered as pork barrel of the President,” House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas said. “The President has the discretion where to put these unprogrammed funds, which can be manipulated to have another source for pork barrel.”
“The administration is asking for P10.29 billion in confidential and intelligence funds, almost half of which would go to the Office of the President,” House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro added. “There’s a big window for the secret violation of laws and rules, secret malversation, and secret betrayal of public trust.”
Some agencies had more trouble than most in defending the budget — plenary deliberations for the Department of Health, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources were initially deferred, and their budget sponsors had to go through a second round of debates before lawmakers from the minority felt satisfied with the answers.
The measure passed by the House is not the final version of the proposed national budget. The Senate will approve its own version of the spending bill, and disagreeing provisions in the two measures will have to be reconciled by bicameral conference committee members later this year. – with reports from Mia Gonzalez/Rappler.com
