Lawmakers want budget hike for Robredo’s office
MANILA, Philippines (Corrected 1:11 p.m., September 11)— At least two lawmakers from the House of Representatives said Friday that they will be pushing for an increase in the budget of Vice President Leni Robredo’s office for 2022.
Reps. Gabriel Bordado (Camarines Sur) and France Castro (ACT Teachers party-list) said they want to give the Office of the Vice President at least P1 billion in funding for it to be able to continue its much-praised programs in response to the pandemic.
“Taasan, at least P1 billion, ‘yung budget ng Office of the Vice President para mas magampanan pa nito lalo ‘yung kaniyang tungkulin at ‘yung kaniyang pagtugon sa pandemyang COVID dahil alam naman natin hanggang 2022 pa ito,” Castro said during the House appropriations panel’s hearing on the budget of the OVP.
(Increase the Office of the Vice President’s budget to at least P1 billion so that it can continue to perform its duties and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic because we know this will last until 2022.)
Among the responses of the OVP to the pandemic are the local production of personal protective equipment, the provision of transportation and accommodation to healthcare workers, free teleconsultations, and the vaccination of essential workers in partnership with local governments.
Swift approval
The Office of the Vice President only proposed a P714.56-million budget for next year, but the Department of Budget and Management slashed this by around P1 million to P713.41 billion in the National Expenditure Program.
The proposed budget for the OVP in 2022 is 22% lower than its funding under this year’s budget, where it received P908.79 million. Lawmakers had also pushed for a substantial increase in the OVP’s budget this year.
The House appropriations committee approved the budget of the OVP immediately after Robredo finished her presentation on their proposed funding for 2022, following a tradition of giving courtesy to a co-equal branch of government.
Robredo, the de facto leader of the opposition, is considering a run for the presidency, although she is also open to taking a backseat in favor of stronger candidates that would unite forces against President Rodrigo Duterte’s anointed bet.
(This article has been corrected to reflect that the budget of the Office of the Vice President is in millions, not billions as originally reported. We regret the error.)
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