Smooth sailing for OP, OVP budgets

THE HOUSE Committee on Appropriations has swiftly passed the proposed budgets of the Office of the President (OP) and Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2017, following tradition that lawmakers reserve scrutiny of the budgets at the plenary.

The OP budget passed the committee level in nine minutes and the OVP in three minutes.

The lone question about the OP budget came from House Minority Floor Leader Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, when he asked Ambassador Marciano Paynor if the P15.4-billion budget earmarked for the Philippines’ hosting of the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next year was sufficient.

Paynor answered in the affirmative.

The “grilling” during the hearing for the OVP budget came from Committee on Appropriations chair, Davao Rep. Karlo Nograles, who asked Mara Carmela Duterte, OVP chief of the local affairs and special projects division, if she was related to President Duterte.

When she said she was not related to the President, Nograles jokingly insisted that she was.

Unlike at the Senate where she defended the OVP budget for 2017, Robredo was unable to face the House of Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday.

Robredo had a prior engagement in Mindanao, where she will be visiting communities for her poverty alleviation and housing programs.

The OP budget increased by an astounding 607 percent, owing to the funds earmarked for the Asean anniversary and the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Opposition lawmaker Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said that while he would “adhere” to the House tradition of “liberating” the OP from interpellation on its proposed budget, “that tradition does not extend to the plenary debates on the budget of the Office of the President.”

Meanwhile, the OVP budget was 14.28 percent lower than the 2016 budget of the OVP.

Robredo’s chief of staff, Boyet Dy, told reporters that the decrease in the budget was due to the OVP’s transfer from the Coconut Palace to the Quezon City Reception House, which allowed the office to save some P200,000 in rental fees.

With a smaller office, costs for utilities is also expected to be lower, Dy said.

Dy added that Robredo had strict instructions to practice austerity not only at the office, but also when she goes to provinces as part of her poverty alleviation and housing and development programs.