OVP budget cut stays; big gains for DPWH, House

FINAL VERSION The bicameral conference committee on the draft 2025 national budget meets at The Manila Hotel on Wednesday, where lawmakers later approved the P6.252-trillion purse of the Marcos administration in a midterm election year. —Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — The bicameral conference committee reconciling differences in the House of Representatives and Senate versions of the proposed budget for 2025 on Wednesday approved the final version of the P6.252-trillion general appropriations bill (GAB).

Members of the panel stood pat on their decision backing the move of the House to trim the spending plan of Vice President Sara Duterte’s office next year by P1.3 billion on the heels of the congressional inquiry into her alleged misuse of hundreds of millions in confidential funds in 2023.

READ: Secret fund use hits P10B; OVP outspends 4 security agencies

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), two of the government’s primary social protection agencies, lost P96 billion and P74.4 billion, respectively, in the bicam report as compared to House Bill No. 10800 that the Senate had adopted on Nov. 26.

READ: Senate, House agree to ‘open bicam’ to reconcile 2025 national budget

On the other hand, lawmakers increased by almost P289 billion the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which had consistently been at the center of various corruption allegations in the past.

Aid program restored

From P825 million, the DPWH’s expenditure program ballooned to a record P1.1 trillion, making it the first department to receive such a huge amount in annual appropriations.

The House also emerged as among the biggest gainers in next year’s budget as the bicam increased its allocation by more than 100 percent.

Under the approved spending program, the 300-member chamber will get P33.7 billion, up from its P16.3-billion allocation under the GAB.

The House’s pet aid scheme, the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap), also managed to avoid the chopping block.

Speaker Martin Romualdez announced that the bicameral committee retained P26 billion out of the initial P39.8 billion eyed for Akap, which seeks to provide financial aid to people who are unemployed or who earn much less than the minimum wage. The entire fund will be handled by the DSWD.

During the Senate deliberations, Sen. Imee Marcos had moved the fund allocation for Akap to another social program under the DSWD, citing the vague purposes of the program.

While it was not included in the budget crafted by the administration, Akap was inserted by the House in its version.

The reconciled version also included an increase in soldiers’ subsistence allowance from P150 to P350 a day, or P10,500 a month, an allocation which Romualdez said was made upon the instruction of the President.

The House and the Senate ratified on Wednesday night the reconciled version in their plenary, with opposition lawmakers voting against the budget measure.

It will then be sent to Malacañang, which will scrutinize and recommend its approval or veto of some provisions to the President.

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cesar Chavez said the tentative signing into law of the 2025 GAB is scheduled on Dec. 20 at 9 a.m.

Majority decision

But several senators did not hide their disappointment over the “worrying” changes made.

Expressing concern, Sen. JV Ejercito pointed out that the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, which he had sponsored and authored, mandated the allocation of government subsidy to PhilHealth for the premium of indigents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities and other nonpaying members.

“My worry is that the allotment for (PhilHealth subsidy) is actually mandated by law,” Ejercito told reporters.

“The sin tax law also earmarks a certain percentage for PhilHealth’s indirect contributors. So we need to resolve that,” he said, referring to the tax revenues collected from cigarettes and alcoholic drinks.

Sen. Grace Poe, who defended the national spending plan as chair of the Senate finance committee, acknowledged that the bicam could not accommodate the requests of all lawmakers since Congress could not go beyond the budget proposal that Malacañang had prepared.

“This is a collegial body. We all have our own ‘wish list’ that we want to fulfill. But in the end, the majority wins,” Poe said in an interview.

Unfair, illegal

As to the scrapping of the PhilHealth subsidy, the senator admitted that the matter was “very contentious.”

According to Poe, the state health insurer has not been spending the allotment it received yearly from the government, which prompted the Department of Finance to order it to remit P89.9 billion of its “excess funds” to the national treasury.

“PhilHealth, if I’m not mistaken, still has P600 billion in reserve funds. So PhilHealth will not be given any budget because they need to use their reserve funds first,” Poe said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros warned that her colleagues’ decision would not only violate the UHC and sin tax laws, but the 1987 Constitution as well.

She insisted that it was the obligation of the state to provide medical insurance and services to poor and underprivileged Filipinos.

“Denying PhilHealth support to pay the premium contribution of the most vulnerable is to deny Filipinos our right to health,” Hontiveros emphasized.

“That’s why this ‘zero subsidy’ is unfair, illegal and potentially unconstitutional,” she warned. “It is ironic that PhilHealth gets zero subsidy on the eve of International Universal Health Coverage Day.”

Disappointment, frustration

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri resented the decision of the bicam panel to thumb down his proposal to augment by P247.5 million the budget of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Instead, the committee added only P172.5 million to the state agency tasked with leading the country’s response to natural disasters.

“I’m disappointed,” Zubiri said, noting that the proposed increase in the DOST’s outlay was for the acquisition of additional equipment for the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Senators Marcos and Christopher Go, both allies of Duterte, did not attend the second and final bicam meeting at the Manila Hotel.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, Hontiveros and Go opted not to sign the bicam report on President Marcos’ third national budget.

“We cannot do anything if they don’t want to (increase the budget of the Office of the Vice President). Just look at my eyes to see how frustrated I am,” Dela Rosa told reporters. —with a report from Krixia Subingsubing