Binay says meager office funds didn’t stop service

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Saying that he had only a “meager budget” last year, Vice President Jejomar Binay nevertheless boasted of his office’s accomplishments in 2014, down to the number of people served through medical missions and relief aid.

In a news release on the first day of 2015, Binay said his office served 66,951 patients in medical missions in 21 provinces and distributed 133,346 relief packs to families affected by natural calamities last year.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) regularly conducted medical missions to different provinces and reached out to those who could neither afford to go to hospitals nor buy medicine. It also distributed relief goods to victims of fires, flash floods and the threat of eruption by Mayon volcano.

“Kahit na nabawasan ang budget ng aming tanggapan, patuloy po kaming gumagawa ng paraan upang makatulong at mapagsilbihan ang ating mga kababayan (Even if our office budget was slashed, we continue to find ways to help and serve our countrymen),” Binay said a statement.

He said the removal of its social services fund resulted in a smaller OVP budget.

The OVP’s budget was halved in 2014 to P217 million from P417 million after Binay himself decided to forgo the social services fund, which was described as a pork barrel.

“We asked that the budget marked by the Department of Budget and Management as Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to be stricken out in September 2013,” Joey Salgado, spokesman for Binay, said.

The Supreme Court in November 2013 declared all PDAF unconstitutional.

According to its 2014 yearend report, the OVP helped 6,044 indigent persons receive medical assistance through payment of hospital bills, surgery, dialysis, chemotherapy, medicines, implants and hearing aids. The patients were mostly from Metro Manila but some came from other regions.

About 9,700 elementary students received educational support, while 8,000 students were given medals and certificates of recognition with the help of the OVP, the news release said.

Binay also went to Batangas, his home province, to distribute relief packs to victims of Typhoon “Ruby” in San Juan, Rosario, Lobo, San Pascual and Lipa City.