SENATOR Grace Poe said Wednesday that Office of the Vice President (OVP) can still fulfill its mandate and implement its social programs with its PHP733.198 million proposed 2025 budget approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, Poe, who chairs the Senate Finance panel, clarified that the OVP is still capacitated with this budget which has PHP600 million available for its social programs.
“In fact, nag-submit sila sa amin nung mga social programs nila, meron dun medical assistance, burial assistance, Libreng Sakay, sila mismo ang naglagay kung saan nila gustong pondohan doon sa PHP600 million,” Poe said.
“Hindi nila nilagyan yung medical assistance at yung burial assistance kasi kulang daw para sa kanila, pero actually, meron silang,” she noted.
Poe also explained that the other reason why the Senate Finance panel decided not to increase the proposed budget of the OVP is that there was no formal request from the office to increase it.
“Alam natin dito sa mga committee hearings, pag tataasan ang budget, kailangan merong manggagaling din sa kanila na breakdown at justification kung bakit tataasan (We know here in the committee hearings, if the budget will be increased, there needs to be a breakdown and justification from them as to why it will be increased),” she said.
The senator, however, made it clear that the OVP can still send a formal letter which can be considered and discussed during the bicameral conference with the House.
Poe also pointed out that any government agency with less budget can still be effective and efficient in its mandate, especially with good coordination and collaboration with other offices.
Under the 2025 National Expenditure Program, the OVP was proposing to spend PHP2.037 billion, but the House of Representatives decided to cut it by PHP1.3 billion, citing the redundancy of some of its social programs with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Health (DOH). (PNA)
