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MANILA, Philippines— Despite the budget cuts, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) still has about P600 million for its social program, Sen. Grace Poe said on Wednesday.
Poe made this clarification following the Senate’s decision on the floor to retain the House of Representatives – approved P733.198 million budget for the OVP, down from Malacanang’s recommended P2.03 billion funding.
Her colleagues, however, may still propose changes to the OVP budget during the period of amendments, according to her.
“Kasi naman yung period of amendments, hindi pa naman tapos yun. So sa ngayon, oo, it’s retained,” said Poe, who heads the Senate committee on finance, when interviewed about the OVP budget.
(Because the period for amendments is not finished yet. So for now, yes, it’s retained.)
“Pero also for the information of the public, meron naman mga social programs pa rin. Meron pa rin funding na iba,” she said, adding that her committee is just getting the details from the OVP.
(But also, for the information of the public, there are still social programs. There is still funding for other initiatives.)
“They’re about, if I’m not mistaken, about P600 million also still for social programs. But we’ve been waiting for submission also from the OVP what the itemized allocations are for,” the senator further said.
The absence of supporting documents was one of the reasons why, she said, the finance panel adopted the House-recommended budget for the OVP.
Nevertheless, Poe reiterated that Senators Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go— Duterte’s known allies—are still free to introduce amendments to the OVP budget at the proper time
“Of course, I’m only the chairman. It will also depend on the approval of the body,” she pointed out.
Earlier at the session hall, Dela Rosa expressed his intention to propose changes to the OVP budget.
Go, for his part, appealed to his colleagues to restore the budget cuts to the OVP, particularly the funding for its social services.
“While we understand that some of the OVP’s program are also being done by other government agencies, wala naman po sigurong masama kung bigyan po ng budget ang OVP para sa social services (there is probably nothing wrong with providing the OVP with a budget for social services),” he said.
“Let me repeat, yung social services sana po’y maibalik…” Go stressed.
(Let me repeat, I hope the social services budget is restored.)