OVP gets P270-M budget increase this year

MANILA, Philippines - The office of Vice President Jejomar Binay is getting a P270-million budget increase this year.

Budget documents show that funding for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) goes up by more than 100 percent from P222.6 million last year to P500 million this year.

This is the first time OVP funding reaches the half-a-billion-peso mark. When broadcaster Noli de Castro was vice president, his budget was less than P200 million.

Binay, who is in the middle of a campaign to succeed President Aquino, gets to use half of the OVP budget or about P250 million up to June 30 this year, when his term of office ends.

For his higher funding for this year, Binay can thank his Senate allies Juan Ponce Enrile and Vicente Sotto III.

In the budget proposal he submitted to Congress in July, Aquino recommended an increase of P8 million in the OVP budget, from P222.6 million to P230.5 million.

The House of Representatives approved Aquino’s recommendation in its version of the 2016 budget.

Of the P500-million OVP funding, only P48.8 million is for salaries, while P2 million is for capital outlay. About 90 percent or P449.2 million is allocated for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), including P220 million for “financial assistance/subsidy.”

Some congressmen describe the P220-million financial assistance fund as Binay’s pork barrel, which they said the Vice President could use in his quest for the presidency.

In his accomplishment report submitted to the House appropriations committee, Binay said he was using the money to help senior citizens and people asking for money for medicine and hospitalization.

The other big expense items in the P449.2-million OVP MOOE allocation are P59.7 million for travel, P22.8 million for supplies and materials, P37.5 million for representation and P35.5 million for consultants.

Administration congressmen said Binay could also use these funds for his campaign.

For instance, they said the Vice President could charge his plane fare and other transportation expenses and those for his entourage to the P59.7-million OVP travel budget.

Corruption watchdog Social Watch has appealed to all candidates who are incumbent officials not to use public funds in their campaign.

In presenting the OVP budget to the House, OVP chief of staff Benjamin Martinez Jr. said Binay would “maximize the use of available resources in support of the priority areas outlined by the President in his State of the Nation Address, with particular regard to job creation, anti-corruption and social services.”

“Our working Vice President will continue to be an active and full-fledged partner of the President in national governance and leading the country to ensure a steady march towards lasting progress,” he said.

He said his principal “will continue to be supportive of the President’s programs and goals.”

Binay has since become an Aquino critic, calling his administration “palpak” and “manhid” (inefficient and lacking empathy).

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