OVP allots P20 M for disaster relief efforts

MANILA, Philippines — The additional P20 million budget allotted for the anti-poverty program of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) will be used for disaster relief efforts, Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday.

The P20 million is on top of the P443.9-million budget allotted by the Senate for the OVP for 2018.

The OVP is currently implementing the Angat Buhay program in 153 communities, serving more than 83,000 families.

It has received around P145 million worth of funds from private organizations in the past year, some of which were spent for victims of natural disasters.

“We have decided to set aside the amount  for emergency, especially for disaster response,” Robredo said, adding they can find other partners for programs under Angat Buhay.

“We need the funds right away for disaster relief,” she said.

The OVP marked the first anniversary of Angat Buhay last week with the launch of its Angat Kabuhayan, a program aimed at addressing job-skills mismatch in the country.

The agency partnered with private organizations in an effort to create jobs in agribusiness, construction, information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO), manufacturing, services and tourism.

The OVP initially targeted 70,000 jobs, mostly in the IT-BPO sector.