2 days ago
OVP budget delibs: Courtesy given to, expected from all agencies —Suansing
Vice President Sara Duterte attends a legislative inquiry into her office's use of public funds at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on November 25, 2024. REUTERS/ Eloisa Lopez
The House Appropriations panel will always extend courtesy to Vice President Sara Duterte and all heads of government agencies during the upcoming budget deliberations with high hopes that the same courtesy will be given to the House members, House Appropriations panel chairperson and Nueva Ecija Representative Mikaela Suansing said.
Suansing made the response when asked if the House will extend courtesy to the Vice President who, during last year's deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget, asked for the replacement of the presiding officer at the time, then-appropriations senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo, after one of the House members asked the Vice President on how her office spent its confidential fund allocation in previous years.
'Under my leadership as chairperson of the committee on appropriations, I commit that all of the of the heads of agencies will receive the respect due and commensurate with their offices. We [will] extend the same courtesy to all of the heads of agencies, and we will invite all heads of agencies to attend the budget deliberations,' Suansing said.
'I really do hope that the heads of agencies would extend the same courtesy of respect. Because all we want here, pareho lang naman po tayo ng kagustuhan na talagang masusi iyong deliberasyon patungkol sa budget. Para po magawa natin 'yung ganoong [masusi] na paghimay sa budget, kailangan po magkaroon tayo ng matiwasay na pagdinig. And that is highly dependent on the way that all the parties engage with each other,' she added.
(We want the same thing: a comprehensive discussion of the national budget. We can only execute a comprehensive scrutiny on the proposed national budget if we will calmly deliberate on its merits.)
The Vice President, who was impeached by the House in February mainly due to allegations of the misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds and saying she had contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., earlier said she expects the House to make cuts to the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) proposed P903-million budget for 2026.
In 2024, the House reduced the OVP's proposed 2025 budget by P1.29 billion due to the Vice President's repeated refusal to answer queries on how her office's confidential fund was spent and adverse findings of the Commission on Audit on how the OVP used its funds in years 2023 to 2024.
The COA findings include:
OVP's lease expenses increased to P53 million in 2023 from P29 million in 2022
only P600,000 out of P150 million budget for Magnegosyo Ta Day was used
each of the 10 satellite offices, except for Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (P200,000), accumulated P2.2 million in cash advances.
no clear guidelines in distribution of bags and books ('Isang Kaibigan') for students
53 schools in PagbaBAGo program (bag distribution) have no pre-determined list of beneficiaries
students have pre-signed forms confirming receipt of bags ahead of distribution
The House's reduction of the OVP budget was adopted by the Senate and eventually signed into law by the President.
Day 1
The budget deliberations for the proposed P6.7-trillion budget for 2026 is expected to start on Monday, August 18.
Set to face the House appropriations panel on August 18 is the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the newly-formed Department of Economy, Planning, and Development )(DepDev, Department of Finance (DOF) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
These agencies make up the Development Budget Coordination Committee, which faces the House appropriations panel first as oer customary.
DBM is headed by Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, while DepDev is led by Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
Former Senator Ralph Recto is the DOF chief, while BSP is headed by Governor Eli Remolona, Jr. — BM, GMA Integrated News
