This budget season has been overshadowed by the catfight between congressmen and VP Duterte. But the burning questions stand — from confidential expenses to supposedly redundant OVP projects, to the necessity of her satellite offices.
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
It’s already unfortunate that the public only belatedly learned about those secret funds a year after the budget department, upon the Office of the President’s approval, released the P125 million to the OVP . What’s worse is the bombshell revelation that the money was issued by the Commission on Audit to the OVP in August showed that Duterte has been asked to return P73.287 million out of the P125 million.
The notice of disallowance is not yet final, and NDs rarely enforced because agencies appeal them to eternity. But as of the second round of House budget deliberations for the OVP on September 10, the order stands because Duterte has yet to appeal the decision. She has six months, or until February 2025 to do so., the OVP is seeking P2.037 billion in new general appropriations, most of which would go to “socio-economic program delivery” if approved.
To be fair to Duterte, even past vice presidents were given funding for their social services projects. Even Duterte’s predecessor Robredo was given a budget ofHas the Sara Duterte-led OVP delivered so far, amid reports of underutilized funds, inventory mismanagement, and documentary deficiencies? “We noted that the distribution of welfare goods has various deficiencies. One of these is, the following documents needed to support the distribution of welfare goods were not required by the to be submitted,” COA audit team leader Fahad Bin Abdul Malik Tomawis told lawmakers.
COA said the low utilization is partly due to the fact that the program was in its pilot year, and because some of the beneficiaries struggled to comply with the documentary requirements, resulting in the rejection of their applications.
Editors' Pick National News Newsbreak Philippine News
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
A first for OVP: Sara Duterte fails last chance to get House budget panel’s nodThe House appropriations committee puts on the table the possibility of a reduced budget for the OVP, with its chair even explicitly saying that lawmakers should not allow the 'misuse of even a single centavo'
Read more »
In rare move, House defers 2025 budget deliberations for Sara Duterte-led OVPThe House, after nearly six hours, decides not to elevate the proposed OVP budget to the plenary yet, a stark contrast to how Sara Duterte was treated in 2022 and 2023, when the House swiftly acted on her budget requests
Read more »
Sara Duterte says ‘ready’ to work with zero OVP budget amid clash with House'Maliit lang ‘yung operations namin kaya kayang-kaya namin na magtrabaho kahit walang budget,' says Vice President Sara Duterte who is asking for a P2.037-billion budget for her office in 2025
Read more »
Sara Duterte’s refusal to answer questions turns OVP budget talks in House into catfight'I would like to forgo the opportunity to defend the budget in the question and answer format,' Vice President Sara Duterte tells lawmakers
Read more »
Word war: Marcoleta, Ungab fight Sara Duterte’s House critics at budget briefing for OVPLawmakers allied with, and against, Vice President Sara Duterte raise their voices as an argument erupts over the appropriations committee's move not to grant parliamentary courtesy to the Office of the Vice President
Read more »
LIVESTREAM: House holds 2nd round of 2025 budget deliberations for Sara Duterte’s OVPThe second round of committee-level budget deliberations for the OVP comes two weeks after Sara Duterte refused to properly answer lawmakers' questions, putting her funding request in limbo
Read more »