Manila, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday’s hearing, bravely graced alone the House Committee on Appropriations’ budget deliberations for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) proposed budget for fiscal year 2026.
Her presence is a bold move, following the issue of OVP’s no-show during the original hearing set on Friday.
During the weekends, OVP clarified that they were prepared to send over their assistant secretary to the deliberations, but it was the House that deferred the hearing, as only the head of the department until undersecretary levels can defend the fund.
Following the rescheduled hearings, VP Sara presented alone the budget proposal of her office for 2026, with P902.895 million proposed funds.
Based on her presentation, 23.54% of P212.538 million pesos of the funds will be allocated for OVP’s personnel services, 1.84% for the Capital outlay, while majority is for Maintenance and other Operating expenses.
It can be recalled that before Friday’s hearing was deferred, the House Committee on Appropriations agreed to grant OVP parliamentary courtesy by tradition.
However, two members of the minority—ACT Teachers’ Partylist and Kabataan Partylist—will be given the floor to ask questions within 5 minutes each.
Duterte then waived the courtesy grant, facing and answering the questions personally and directly, particularly regarding last year’s confidential funds.
She further defended her official trips, arguing that all of these were approved, and are from her own pocket.
After the questions were done, the Committee formally terminated the budget deliberations for the OVP.—Mia Layaguin, Eurotv News