OVP says it has no approved budget for medical, burial assistance

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) revealed on Wednesday that it has no approved budget for its medical and burial assistance programs under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“There is no approved budget for the Medical and Burial Assistance Program of the Office of the Vice President under the 2025 GAA,” said the OVP in a statement.

“We apologize for the inconvenience,” it added.

In a message to reporters, the OVP pointed out that there was no line item for financial assistance and subsidy for the OVP’s budget under the 2025 GAA.

However, the OVP has yet to confirm whether or not it would discontinue the said assistance programs.

INQUIRER.net has already inquired about what the absence of the funding entails but has yet to receive a response as of this writing.

According to the OVP, in 2024 alone, the medical and burial assistance programs had a total of 187,028 beneficiaries, with the total assistance amounting to over P822 million.

The OVP received P733 million in funding in the 2025 GAA. The budget was initially at P2.037 billion but was reduced by P1.29 billion.

READ: 2025 budget for OVP remains at P733M

This year’s budget for the OVP is also significantly lower than the previous year’s, which was at P2.3 billion.

READ: House finalizes P1.3-B cut in 2025 OVP budget

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