P8.2B budget for OP breezes through Senate panel

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate finance subcommittee, chaired by Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, swiftly approved the P8.239-billion proposed budget of the Office of the President (OP).

During Monday’s hearing, the proposed budget of the OP was deemed submitted to the plenary, with some senators even eyeing to augment the funding for the said office.

The hearing lasted for only over 30 minutes.

The subcommittee also approved the P715.6-million proposed budget of the Presidential Management System (PMS), which is a 1.15-percent increase from its current budget.

The PMS, according to the 1987 Administrative Code, is the primary government agency “directly responsible to the Office of the President for providing staff assistance in the presidential exercise of overall management of the development process.”

“I fully support the budget of the OP. Baka pwede pang dagdagan [Maybe we can give them additional budget],” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said.

For his part, Senator Sonny Angara pointed out that the  budget hearings for the OP and the PMS have “traditionally been very swift.”

“If there are no other questions, eventually, we would like to move for the termination and the elevation of the budget of the OP and PMS to the plenary with a favorable recommendation and possible augmentation at the proper time,” Angara added.

He then moved to approve the budget of the OP and the PMS at the committee level.

“Okay. No more questions? With no other senators wishing to ask questions, the budgets of the office of the president and the PMS are hereby approved on the committee and are deemed submitted to the plenary,” Go said.

EDV