By Filane Mikee Cervantes | Philippine News Agency
The House Committee on Appropriations has recommended to reduce the proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2025 from P2.037 billion to P733 million, panel senior vice chair and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo said on Thursday.
In a press conference, Quimbo said the committee made the “unanimous decision” to transfer P1.293 billion of the OVP’s budget for social services to two key social protection programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and the Department of Health’s (DOH) Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP).
“Yesterday, the Committee on Appropriations decided to recommend a reduced budget for the Office of the Vice President and the reduction shall be split by the DSWD – AICS program and the DOH – MAIFIP program,” Quimbo said.
She said both the AICS and MAIFIP programs would receive an almost equal share of about P646 million each.
Quimbo said the P1.293-budget cut came from allocations for financial assistance, professional services (for consultants), utility expenses, supplies and materials, and rentals/leases.
“Why don’t we just transfer the funds for financial assistance to the national government agencies na subok na subok na?” she said.
Quimbo said the OVP could still help out in the distribution of financial assistance by tapping into the DSWD and DOH.
She said one of the reasons for the budget cut is that the OVP was found to be operating 10 satellite offices and two extension offices, noting that previous vice presidents only maintained a single office.
The allocation for lease expenses would be reduced from P80 million to P32 million.
“Minabuti po naming ibalik po siya sa levels ng 2022 na kung saan ang vice president po natin noon only maintained a single office,” Quimbo said.
She said the OVP’s social services such as the medical and burial assistance overlap with existing national programs managed by the DOH and DSWD.
She said this redundancy, along with low utilization rate and implementation problems as flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA), prompted the committee to reallocate the OVP’s funds to more established government agencies.
“At the same time lumabas din po na mababa ang utilization rate. Ang dami pong natirang pondo mula sa social programs and at the same time meron ding lumabas na mga problema, implementation [problems] resulting from lack of implementation details or protocol according to the COA,” she said.
Quimbo said the proposed budget reduction is not yet final and is subject to further deliberations at the plenary.
“We have one more round of amendments. Lilinawin ko: hindi pa ito [ang] final approval ng Congress. Meron pa tayong plenary debates,” she said.
Quimbo said that once the House of Representatives approves the General Appropriations Bill, it would be transmitted to the Senate for its own deliberations.
The spending bill will undergo bicameral deliberations and ratification by both Houses of Congress before the President either approves or vetoes the proposed appropriations, she said.
“In other words, ganoon po kahaba ang proseso ng ating budget approval, ng budget process at malinaw po na napakarami pong tao na involved dito po sa pag-apruba ng budget, hindi lang po dalawang tao,” she said.
“Ang budget execution is solely by the executive [branch],” she added.
On Tuesday, the House appropriations committee deferred the deliberations of the OVP’s budget subject to conditions—reduction of the proposed budget and placing certain funds on hold until further discussions are held—after Vice President Sara Duterte and her entire office skipped the second hearing.
Duterte earlier sent a letter to the House of Representatives addressed to Speaker Martin Romualdez and committee chair Elizaldy Co, saying she had already articulated her position in her previous opening statement during the first hearing and deferred to the committee regarding the OVP’s 2025 budget.
“We defer entirely to the discretion and judgment of the committee regarding our budget proposal for the upcoming year,” Duterte said in a letter submitted to the House.