‘I think the vice president is not in a position to make demands to Congress.’
That’s what Rep. Terry Ridon (Bicol Saro Party-list) said in an ambush interview on Friday, October 3, after Vice President Sara Duterte skipped budget deliberations three times while even setting conditions for her appearance.
He agreed with other minority lawmakers who already manifested their intention to move for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget cut, saying Congress has all the reason to reduce it when Duterte did not even bother to defend her office’s budget.
‘So I think Congress is justified to just basically cut it to the barest operating levels,’ he said.
Rep. Leila de Lima (ML Party-list) was the first to propose cutting the OVP’s budget, even considering a zero allocation, but said that at the very least, funds should remain for its personnel and basic operations.
Minority lawmaker Rep. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers’ Party-list) said during Thursday’s plenary debates that the OVP had used only 34% of its budget by midyear. Duterte had explained at the committee-level hearing that the reason for the low utilization rate was due to procurement delays.
Ridon shared a similar idea to the minority lawmakers, saying perhaps the personnel services and relevant operating expenses should be kept.
‘Basically, anything more than personnel services and operating expenses, I think pwede na pong tapyasin po ito (I think they could be cut),’ he said.
Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (Lanao del Sur, 1st District) said Duterte could have used the plenary to defend and explain why the budget increase was necessary, but ‘unfortunately, no explanation at all,’ he added.
He echoed De Lima’s criticism, noting how the vice president showed courtesy to the Senate but not to the House. He called it a ‘deliberate way’ of ‘expressing her preference’ for the Senate, which he said was insulting to the House as an institution.
‘That’s why sa amin, my working draft would be on the P700 million,’ Adiong said, clarifying that there’s no collective decision yet.
Tinio’s proposal, however, called for a deeper cut, retaining only the personnel services allocation of roughly P200 million for 2026.
How much the OVP wants in 2026
Under the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the OVP was allocated P889.2 million in new appropriations, up by P156 million from the P733.2 million it received in 2025.
Driving the increase in the OVP’s proposed budget are an additional P87 million for supplies and materials, P52 million for professional services, and P39.6 million for financial assistance and subsidies – an item not funded in its 2025 budget.
‘Para sa professional services, 405% increase, para sa mga consultant, hindi natin alam kung para saan ‘yan, gusto sana natin malaman sa kanya,’ Tinio said.
(For professional services, a 405% increase-for consultants, we don’t know what it’s for. We would like to ask her to clarify.)
These allocations fall under the OVP’s maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) for 2026, pegged at P673.75 million or a 35% increase from 2025.
Meanwhile, personnel services were set at P212.54 million, about P24 million higher than this year’s budget.
Combined, the OVP’s operating expenditures will reach P886.29 million, or roughly P198.55 million more than its 2025 budget.
In other words, if lawmakers decide to retain the personnel services budget while trimming down the MOOE increase, the OVP would be left with around P728 million, including P16 million proposed for capital outlay.
This would put it nearly at par with its 2025 budget of P744.15 million, which already factored in automatic appropriations for retirement and life insurance premiums – or a reduction of nearly one-fifth from the proposed 2026 allocation.
Will the House be soft?
During this year’s budget hearings with the appropriations committee, the House took a softer approach to the OVP compared to 2024, when deliberations lasted hours and had to be deferred because lawmakers were not satisfied with the answers over her confidential fund use.
This time, the committee passed her office’s proposed budget quickly with just a few questions from two minority lawmakers, despite the increase.
However, with the OVP absent from the plenary debates, her office’s proposed budget increase could take a rough turn.