THE Office of the Vice President (OVP) will see its proposed 2026 budget restored to the National Expenditures Program (NEP) level of P889 million, following a decision by the bicameral conference committee.
This move comes after weeks of deliberations and political maneuvering in the House of Representatives, where some lawmakers initially sought to slash the OVP’s allocation due to Vice President Sara Duterte’s absence from budget discussions.
The House of Representatives had initially proposed a budget of P733.1 million for the OVP in its General Appropriations Bill (GAB), mirroring the current year’s level. However, the Senate proposed restoring the budget to the original NEP level of P889.2 million, a figure that was ultimately adopted by the bicameral committee.
“On the part of the House, the amount that was indicated in the HGAB was P733,198,000,” said Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing, who heads the House committee on appropriations.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Suansing’s counterpart, replied, “We go to the Office of the Vice President, the Senate proposed the NEP level of P889 million.”
The decision to cut the OVP’s budget in the House was largely attributed to Vice President Duterte’s initial decision to skip budget discussions. Her absence from the first committee hearing prompted some lawmakers to question the need for the full proposed budget.
Duterte eventually attended a subsequent committee hearing on September 16, where she answered questions from both the Minority and Majority members. However, she did not appear at the plenary debates on the OVP budget, leading the House to use the agency’s 2025 budget for the 2026 proposal.
Despite the initial attempts to reduce the OVP’s budget, the bicameral committee ultimately decided to restore the funding to the NEP level. Meanwhile, the allocation for the Office of the President was increased from P27.28 billion in the House GAB to P28.02 billion, while funding for Congress went up from P37.19 billion in the GAB to P38.60 billion.
The restoration of the OVP budget highlights the complex political dynamics at play during the budget process, with various factors influencing the final allocation of funds.
