MANILA, Philippines — Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo has assured Office of the Vice President (OVP) program beneficiaries that funding is still present in the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), noting that it was just transferred to agencies that can implement it better.
Quimbo, in a briefing on Thursday explained that the OVP’s allocations would only be transferred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), and the Department of Health (DOH) through the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP).
According to Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations which crafts the GAB, the DSWD and the DOH are already tested in terms of implementing programs for the people.
“So ang mapupunta po sa AICS ay additional P646.5 million at sa MAIFIP naman ang dagdag po dyan is P646.5. So as you see almost equal amounts,” she said.
(What will go to the AICS is an additional P646.5 million and for MAIFIP, another P646.5. So as you see almost equal amounts.)
“Sa mga benepisaryo po ng ating OVP, huwag po kayong mag-alala dahil ang pondo po natin para sa social services program ay intact po at nilagay po natin sa DSWD at DOH ang mga under specific programs AICS and MAIFIP na sa totoo lang po, subok na subok na po in terms of service delivery,” she added.
(For the beneficiaries of OVP’s programs, do not worry because funds for the social services program are intact and were placed with DSWD and DOH, particularly for the specific programs of AICS and MAIFIP — agencies which in all honesty are already well-experienced in terms of service delivery.)
According to copies of House Bill No. 10800 or the 2025 GAB which sent to INQUIRER.net by sources, one of the amendments to the National Expenditures Program (NEP) is the reduction of OVP’s budget, from P2.026 billion to just P733.2 million.
Earlier, Quimbo confirmed this, saying that the appropriations panel has decided to recommend significant reductions to the OVP proposed budget due to low utilization rates for its projects.
On Tuesday, during the deliberations on the OVP’s proposed budget, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported various issues, like the 0.004 percent usage rage for the OVP’s Magnegosyo Ta Day program.
Despite the amendments, Quimbo said no jobs were affected as the personnel salaries for workers in programs that were previously with the OVP, were just transferred to the said agencies.
The OVP and Vice President Sara Duterte herself are currently under fire after budget hearings at the House revealed different issues with OVP’s confidential funds in 2022 and 2023, and anomalies in the delivery of projects under the Department of Education, when she was still education secretary.
Solons also blasted Duterte for skipping the budget deliberations of the OVP on Tuesday — the second round of discussions as talks were deferred last August 27.
Deliberations were deferred as Duterte refrained from directly answering lawmakers’ questions — replying by saying that she either forgoes the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format, or by insisting that they have already coordinated with the Commission on Audit regarding the notice of disallowance.