Sara Duterte requests same P733-million budget for OVP in 2026

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has asked for essentially the same budget next year as her office received in 2025.

Duterte said the Office of the Vice President submitted a P733 million budget proposal for 2026, nearly matching the allocation for 2025, with only minor adjustments for inflation, Duterte said at a press conference Monday, June 16. 

The budget proposal is the smallest the OVP has submitted under the current administration. It is also well under the P2.3 billion and P1.8 billion that Duterte's office received in 2023 and 2024, respectively. 

When asked why her office did not propose a higher budget, Duterte said she already expected the OVP's request to be turned down. 

"Because we are not allies of the administration. And we already saw that last year... if you're not an ally, you won't be given a budget for your office's projects," Duterte said in mixed English and Filipino.

The request, Duterte said, is also meant to prevent her staff from being "humiliated" when facing lawmakers.

"I don't want OVP personnel to be embarrassed when they're there at the House of Representatives or Senate facing our members of Congress," she said.

Fewer projects

The vice president said the smaller budget allocated to the OVP this year — at least P1 billion less than the previous year — and expectations of no increased funding for next year have already forced it to discontinue some projects. 

The OVP will no longer implements its "PanSarap" feeding initiative for students and its medical and burial assistance program in 2026, Duterte said.

"[The OVP's partners] already been notified that there is no more budget for medical and burial assistance, and there is no more budget for 'Pansarap.' So we will discontinue the project and our partnership with them," Duterte said.

For 2026, Duterte said her office will maintain existing programs except for the two discontinued. It also won't launch new projects, she said.

Last year saw OVP budget hearings at the House of Representatives descend into chaos as Duterte quarreled with lawmakers during the proceedings, at one point giving them the same canned response to questions about her office's use of funds.

Several lawmakers sought answers from Duterte on her office's quick spending of confidential funds in the year prior. 

The vice president ultimately skipped two scheduled budget hearings entirely, after which the House slashed her office's budget from P2.037 billion to P733 million.

When asked if she will be present during this year's congressional budget hearings, Duterte said the OVP has not received a schedule yet and that she was unsure when they'll be called to defend their proposal.

"No schedule has been given yet for the OVP hearings," Duterte said. "It’s hard to give an answer when we haven’t seen whether there’s a conflict in the schedule."