Leni Robredo asks Congress: 'Restore P100 million cut from budget'

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo appealed yesterday to Congress to restore some P100 million in her office’s budget for 2019, saying this is intended for the agency’s anti-poverty program.

The House of Representatives approved yesterday the P455.85-million appropriation for the Office of the Vice President next year. This was lower than the OVP’s budget of P543.95 million this year.

The OVP has proposed a budget of P549 million for next year.

“We welcome the swift approval of our office’s 2019 budget at the House of Representatives today. However, we still remain hopeful that our request to reinstate some P100 million, which was removed from our original proposal, will be included in the final General Appropriations Act,” Robredo said after attending plenary deliberations yesterday. 

“This amount will be of great help to the local government units and the communities that we are helping, under our Angat Buhay program,” the Vice President said. 

Robredo said the P100 million slashed from its budget could fund livelihood subsidies for poor areas under the OVP’s Angat Buhay project. 

Launched in October 2016, Angat Buhay focuses on six key advocacy areas – public education, rural development, food security and nutrition, women empowerment, universal healthcare, and housing and resettlement – as well as on disaster response and rehabilitation.  

The OVP links poor communities, under good local leadership, with organizations, corporations, and individuals who want to help. 

Robredo said her office heavily relied on the private sector to help them in their projects in 2016 and 2017. 

The Senate has added P20 million for the Angat Buhay program budget this year.  

“There is still much work left to be done in our goal to lift our fellow Filipinos from poverty, and we are looking at our lawmakers’ goodwill to help us make this happen,” Robredo said.