MANILA, Philippines – The House appropriations committee has recommended reducing the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to P733.198 million, the panel’s senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo announced on Thursday, September 12.

The slashed funding amounts to nearly P1.3 billion, from Duterte’s original request of P2.037 billion for next year.

Quimbo said the P1.3 billion will be realigned to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program, and the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients project.

The decision is not yet final, and will be the subject of approval in the House plenary debates, which start next week.

“It’s a recommended amount. We are still open to debate and discussion. So if they have input that we need to know, and they have an appeal to us to increase the budget for whatever reason, we are very willing to listen to those inputs,” Quimbo said in a mix of English and Filipino.

The move comes after Duterte and the entire OVP snubbed the second round of House committee-level budget deliberations for her office on Tuesday, September 10.

She first attended the first hearing on August 27, but her repeated refusal to answer lawmakers’ questions on her past confidential expenses and budget utilization for the current year frustrated House members, who called her an entitled brat. (READ: Sara vs the House: Inside the ugliest live political feud of the Marcos era)

Duterte has claimed she is being politically harassed by the House, which is led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Marcos and Duterte built a 2022 alliance that propelled them to election victory, but apparent infighting led to the Vice President’s resignation from the President’s Cabinet in June 2024. – Rappler.com