Sara Duterte seeks P2.3B OVP budget for 2024, including P500M intel fund

FILE PHOTO: Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte. Photo from Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s office is seeking a budget of P2,374,019,000 for its second year, based on the proposed 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the budget agency to Congress.

This amount includes the P500 million allocation for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) and is P30,000 higher than its 2023 approved budget of P2,343,891,00.

If the proposed 2024 budget of the OVP under Duterte would be approved as is, it would be more than four times what was given during former Vice President Leni Robredo’s second year in office which was P543,946,000, according to records of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

READ: Unprecedented P2.3B for VP Sara draws backlash, clamor for scrutiny

DepEd budget

The current OVP’s request is apart from the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd), which is also being helmed by Duterte in a simultaneous capacity.

The DepEd takes up a lion’s share of the 2024 NEP at P714,163,419,000. The DBM had earmarked a total of P924 billion for the education sector, which must get the biggest allocation in the national budget as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.

READ: House receives proposed P5.768-T nat’l budget for 2024 from DBM

This proposed DepEd budget for next year includes its P150 million CIF.

Congressional deliberations on the 2024 NEP are set to commence in the coming week.

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