THE Senate Committee on Finance has decided to adopt the House of Representatives’ version of the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for its failure to submit the documents asked by the panel.
Under the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) sent by the House to the Senate, the OVP will only receive PHP733 million next year, instead of the proposed PHP2.03 billion.
“We reached out several times to the Office of the Vice President requesting them to submit documents to clarify issues regarding their budget but they have not submitted as of today,” Senator Grace Poe, who chairs the panel, said in a Viber message to reporters late Tuesday.
She, however, clarified that the panel retained the OVP budget under House Bill No. 10800 or the 2025 GAB “pending submission and review of these documents.”
Under the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the OVP is asking to spend PHP2.037 billion next year but was cut by PHP1.3 billion by the House.
The budget cut was reallocated to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program, and Department of Health’s (DOH) Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients program.
“While we cannot account for movements in the figures on an apples-to-apples basis, we can say that we retained the original budget for the relevant item in DSWD while we increased further the item under the DOH budget,” Poe said.
AKAP still pending
Meanwhile, the panel also decided to remove, in the meantime, the Ayuda sa Kapos Ang Kita Program (AKAP) from the Office of the Secretary’s budget in the DSWD which was augmented by the House in the 2025 GAB.
AKAP aims to help minimum wage earners affected by rising inflation.
Poe said it is not part of the 2025 NEP and is still subject to discussions by senators.
“The Senate Committee Report has, for the most part, retained the President’s proposed budget. Depending on how the debates go, it remains to be seen whether the Senate, as a whole, will go with the President’s proposal or the House’s augmentation on this particular item,” she said.
Poe assured that the Senate Finance panel remains focused on passing the 2025 national budget “in a timely manner” to deliver the commitment to “uplift the lives of the Filipino people.” (PNA)
