OVP 'ready for any eventuality' as Congress deliberates 2026 budget
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte's office will settle for whatever amount Congress decides to approve for their budget next year, its spokesperson said Friday, September 5, vowing that they would be "ready for any eventuality" once the budget hearings start.
"Whether they increase it or decrease it, it's the same thing for us. We will still do whatever needs to be done," OVP spokesperson Ruth Castelo said in an interview on Friday. "There will just be more programs that can be accomplished and completed if the funding is bigger."
The OVP's proposed spending plan for 2026 is P902.8 million. This is around a 21% increase from its P744-million budget last year — an amount that was given to the OVP after Congress realigned chunks of its original proposed budget.
Last year saw OVP budget hearings at the House of Representatives descend into chaos as Duterte quarreled with lawmakers during the proceedings.
At one hearing, Duterte had repeated the same canned response to House lawmakers' questions about her office's use of confidential and intelligence funds.
Despite the proposed increase for 2026, Castelo noted that several programs of the OVP remain unfunded. Previously, the office's medical assistance, burial assistance, and nutrition programs for students were eliminated from the 2025 budget.
"We requested an additional 150 million pesos, but we received only about 70 million in additional funding," Castelo said.
The proposed higher allocation will primarily support personnel at the office's 10 satellite locations nationwide and upgrade aging information technology equipment, the OVP spokesperson said.
Castelo said the OVP would be able to implement more projects with a bigger funding.
"But if they decide to return it to P733 million, what we have for 2025, that's okay as well. The OVP would not complain," she said.
Addressing criticisms that the vice president's programs duplicate services provided by other government agencies, Castelo said the office's initiatives serve as "augmentation or complementation" of existing programs, typically on a smaller scale.
"Ours is a smaller volume, smaller form, in smaller quantity, but it's still a way of reaching the public," the OVP spokesperson added.
The OVP is set to defend its proposed 2026 budget on September 12 at 1:30 p.m.. Duterte's chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez is set to face the House appropriations panel, based on the committee's latest calendar.
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