Defanging the Vice President

The House of Representatives committee on appropriations decided last Thursday to cut the proposed 2025 Office of the Vice President (OVP) budget of P2.037 billion to only P733.198 millionThe cut, which is about P1.29 billion, was announced by Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo through a press conference. In my many years working in Congress, if memory serves me right, this is only the second straight time a committee decision is announced through a presser, unlike previous decisions which are revealed via committee reports. By this sheer action alone, the House of Representatives is clearly engaged in politicking, as mentioned by Vice President Inday Sara Duterte during her presentation of the OVP budget in the Lower House.

Here is the breakdown: of the P1,293,159,000 budget cut, P200 million was for supplies; P92.408 million for personnel services for consultants; P947.445 million for financial assistance; P48.306 million for rent or lease expenses and P5 million for utility expenses.

As a result, Vice President Sara’s promise to make her office accessible to our countrymen would be affected. At present, the OVP has 10 satellite offices and two extension offices. With the budget cut on lease expenses, this is no longer possible.

Quimbo justified this by saying that “our previous vice presidents only maintained a single office.”

But VP Sara is different.

The Vice President is doing her mandate serving the people through the satellite offices and extension offices while agencies of the government are being utilized for politicking purposes.

The current Vice President is a young, hands-on working Vice President who would crisscross the archipelago to touch base with our people and make the presence of the government felt on the ground.

VP Sara is a pro-active solutions provider. In fact, even before Quimbo’s presser, VP, in a video message, said that the OVP can certainly work even without a budget and that she will continue to do what needs to be done for the people.

Just as I thought, the House panel would target the Vice President’s social service programs, claiming that these programs duplicate the programs of other agencies of the government.

House committee on appropriations vice chair Quimbo mentioned that they have recommended allocating P646,532,796 to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (DSWD-AICS) program, while P646,533,796 would be realigned to the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (DOH-MAIFIP) program.

“Why does the OVP have its own medical assistance program when we already have the MAIFIP in the DOH? Why does it have its own funeral assistance program when the AICS in the DSWD covers that,” the Birkin-loving Quimbo said in a defensive mode.

Our traditional politicians simply don’t get it. They are in their trapo governance as usual. We are fortunate that we have a Vice President who truly cares. Vice President Sara is not your usual spare tire counting lizards in her office ceiling and waiting for something to happen to the President. After all, the Duterte brand is known for tapang at malasakit. She remains true to her promise when she went on stage during the campaign that she would work, work, work for the Filipino people. I likewise said in a recent episode of The Spox Hour that social service programs in the country are politicized. As the Vice President disclosed, the budget is controlled by Speaker Martin Romualdez and so are the programs. Allies of the administration would get a sizeable share of these programs while critics would not. What, then, happens to the constituents of those belonging to the other side of the political fence? It is the OVP that bridges the gap.

The realignment in the OVP budget follows Vice President Sara’s non-appearance on the scheduled Sept. 10 OVP budget hearing. The Vice President justified her skipping of the budget deliberation, saying that Speaker Romualdez, along with Congressman Zaldy Co, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, had been hijacking the control of taxpayers’ money and manipulating the allocation of the national budget.

While the Vice President respects Congress’ so-called “power of the purse,” she is convinced that the OVP budget deliberation in the House was part of the script to launch political attacks against her, prompting the Vice President to forego the chance to answer lawmakers’ questions about the OVP’s proposed budget. This action, however, does not mean the Vice President is refusing scrutiny over OVP funds.

The plan was to use Vice President Sara for political grandstanding. And she wanted no part of it. That is why the congressmen, who are in their Barong Tagalog and Filipiniana best, were fuming mad. They couldn’t use Inday to score pogi points.

It is very clear from the onset that the budget deliberations are being used to defang Vice President Sara as she is a perceived political threat to the ambition of Speaker Romualdez to become president or prime minister of the Philippines. She is seen as a major stumbling block to the road to Malacañang.

The Dutertes have been on the receiving end of political harassment. The ongoing inquiry of the House of Representatives quad committee is a political inquisition against the Duterte family and me as their outspoken ally is a case in point.

While the country’s national leaders are focused on targeting the Dutertes, it is a shame that the Philippines has been ranked the riskiest country in the world for the third straight year by the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict. It is no coincidence that the Philippines has been topping the World Risk Index since 2022, the first year of the Marcos administration.

To our country’s leaders: Magtrabaho muna kayo bago mamulitika.